High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Prison population
In 2007/08, the average daily population in Scottish prisons totalled 7,376, an increase of 3% when compared with the 2006/07 figure of 7,183, and the highest annual level ever recorded. Over the ten year period 1998/99 - 2007/08, the average daily prison population has increased by 22%. In the same ten year period the female prison population has increased by 87%; more than four times the growth experienced in the male prison population (20%). The average daily female prison population increased from 353 in 2006/07 to 371 in 2007/08, an increase of 5%.
The remand population in 2007/08 was 1,560, very similar to the 2006/07 figure of 1,567 which was the highest level ever recorded.
The graph below illustrates the change in the average daily prison population from 1998/99 to 2007/08 for different categories of prisoner: remand, short-term (sentenced to less than 4 years) and long-term (sentenced to 4 years and over, including life and recalls to custody).
Source: Prison Statistics Scotland
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