A Review of Interventions, Innovation, and the Impact of Covid-19 in the Scottish Prison System within a Comparative Analytical Framework

Published: May 2023

This is the final report from the project ‘A Review of Interventions, Innovation, and the Impact of Covid-19 in the Scottish Prison System within a Comparative Analytical Framework’ for the Scottish Government Coronavirus (Covid-19) Learning and Evaluation Oversight Group. This project was funded by the Scottish Government in 2022 with the aim of uncovering what occurred in prisons in Scotland and throughout the rest of the world during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This project falls under the following three call themes:

Theme 2: international pandemic recovery strategies
Theme 3: learning from public service innovation and creativity
Theme 4: inequalities and human rights

The aims of the project are:

  1. To review evidence from Scotland and beyond on experiences of Covid-19 in prisons and identify
    transferable learning to inform Scotland’s Covid Recovery Strategy
  2. To focus on innovations in prison policy and practice that may prove valuable for the future of imprisonment in Scotland, as well as those that may have wider resonance across the public sector (e.g., those in other long-term confined spaces such as retirement complexes and care homes)
  3. To identify gaps in current evidence and develop plans for future comparative research on impacts of Covid-19 in prisons.

The authors of the report are; Dr. Katrina Morrison, Dr. Kirstin Anderson, Emma Jardine, Dr. Matt Maycock and Prof. Richard Sparks

Authors / Editors

Dr Katrina Morrison

Edinburgh Napier University

Emma Jardine

Howard League Scotland | University of Edinburgh

Dr Matthew Maycock

Monash University

Dr Kirstin Anderson

Edinburgh Napier University

Prof Richard Sparks

University of Edinburgh