However, Alison Bavidge, National Director for Scottish Association of Social Work (SASW) believes that, as it stands, inmates in Scotland are not able to access the same care as citizens in wider society.
The National Director for SASW said: “What you find in Scotland though, is actually they don’t [have the same rights].
“I am surprised that there is no lawyer taking the Scottish Government to court on this because it’s a huge gap [in prisoner care] and it’s been going on for years.”
Ms Bavidge, who previously made recommendations to the Scottish Government on prisoner social services in her role at the Care Inspectorate, believes not enough is being done to look after inmates’ specific social needs.
The social care expert explained people in prison often have access to “good health care and medical support”, however, her concern is that this may not be “coupled with support to change behaviour and thinking” or “support to develop interests and skills, and help with problematic and unhealthy relationships”.
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Ms Bavidge said: “Access to support in the community is now only available to people reaching a high level of crisis, mainly in relation to personal care and physical need.
“This is not going to be enough for people in prison, many of whom end up back in prison because of lack of support for their, sometimes not obvious, social needs.”
There are three main social work areas: adult, children and justice.
Justice social work is what prisoners currently receive. This includes risk assessments and report writing for people who leave prison on home detention, curfews, parole and managing and supporting people who have served longer sentences to plan their return to the community.
The current system is that the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) buys in from local authorities the social work professionals they need to do such work.
However, Ms Bavidge said: “The fact that full social services are not available in prisons means that people don’t get an assessment for their social needs from a suitably qualified person (a social worker or closely overseen by a social worker). This is problematic.
“The government’s problem is that we’ve got a [prison] population that needs social work and social care services, not just physical care. There are huge social problems within the prison population; mental health, substance use and the impact of neurodiversity that other universal services have not helped with. At the moment there is no funding directly for that.”
The Care Inspectorate’s ‘Prison-based social work thematic review’ from last year also found the current system was a “very expensive solution” and it should not be the responsibility of the Scottish Prisons Service. Instead, the report concluded this should be an area which Health and Social Care partnerships oversee.
Ms Bavidge said: “The local authorities have the expertise in commissioning personal care (help with washing, eating, dressing etc) and social support.
“Where it has been difficult for the SPS to locate providers of social care, there could be options for a national consortium of providers to work across the prisons perhaps.
“The key thing is to assign responsibility for social services in prison to the organisations best placed to deliver.”
The independent report found there was a “strong consensus that fundamental reform of the current arrangements is required” and “the current funding and commissioning arrangements for prison-based social work services are no longer fit for purpose”.
Ms Bavidge said the current system “doesn’t seem like good public policy or value for public money” as recent reports from The Herald shows the cost of social care in Scotland’s prisons for last year alone was nearly £2.3 million.
She explained: “People end up coming back through the system. [That causes more of a strain] on the police system, on the Courts system and social work.”
The national director added: “If what you are doing is not managing and giving people the social support the rest of our citizens have and are entitled to, you are creating risk of failure back in the community, risk of re-offending and harm again.”
Ms Bavidge believes mandatory through-care should be provided to all inmates in order to prevent reoffending and provide a rehabilitative approach.
Through-care helps people when they come out of prison by ensuring the individual has basic needs such as a home, money, pharmacy and health and social care support.
At the moment, it is automatically provided if you are sentenced to more than four years in prison. There is a voluntary option but Ms Bavidge said “few people” take that up.
“It shouldn’t be voluntary, it should be a part of what we do when people go into prison and when they come out of prison.
“How can a person rehabilitate when they are out of prison and they don’t have this?”
The Scottish Prison Service told The Herald they have been managing “an extremely high and complex population” for over a year which is putting pressure on staff and those they care for.
The service said there is a “growing demand” for health and social care services “partly due” to an ageing population. They have said they are working closely with partners to meet this demand and ensure people in their care are appropriately supported.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) works in partnership with multi-disciplinary prison health teams to identify health and social care need for people in its care and provide appropriate support.
“We are currently working with the SPS, CoSLA, Scottish Association of Social Work and other stakeholders to consider how social care in prisons can be improved and equity with services in the community can be ensured.”
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