Guidance from report

1 – The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) should review the information provided to Scottish Ministers when submitting reports that recommend First Grants of Temporary Release to ensure a balanced reflection of a prisoner’s period of imprisonment and the assessed risk.

2 – The SPS should review information covered in risk management team meetings when considering a prisoner’s progression and all risk assessments should be considered in full.

3 – When a prisoner is considered for progression to the Open Estate, the chairperson of the SPS risk management team must ensure assessments have been completed and endorsed by a senior prison-based social worker and that all documentation is forwarded to the Open Estate for consideration within seven days before the date of transfer.

4 – The Scottish Government should work with partners to undertake a review of national multi-agency public protection (Mappa) guidance – including around home leave and release decisions – and improve consistency of application across the country.

5 – The Tayside Mappa Strategic Oversight Group should ensure concise and accurate material for Mappa and multi-agency meetings is sent to attendees in advance. Minutes should clearly reflect the rationale for decisionmaking.

6 – The SPS should develop how risk is assessed and mitigated within risk management team meetings.

7 – The National Mappa Strategic Oversight Group should ensure ViSOR dangerous persons database documents are adhered to by all partner agencies.

8 – Police Scotland should review and improve lines of communication between offender management units and local policing in cases involving Mappa.

9 – The Scottish Government and SPS should consider technological options to assist with the management and monitoring of high-risk prisoners who are being granted home leave – specifically GPS tagging solutions.

10 – The SPS should review how information regarding individual prisoners’ unsupervised community access is reported to and received by Police Scotland and Criminal Justice Social Work.