Breaking cycle of offending

There is no doubt that there are too many people in Scotland's prisons, both in terms of squeezing in more than the buildings were designed for and in terms of the proportion of the population in custody. Yet again, the figure has reached an all-time high (of 7609 prisoners), providing further evidence that jailing people is not an effective deterrent. The two main factors that prevent former prisoners reoffending are having a job and being reintegrated into their families. Yet many prisoners, despite rehabilitation programmes in jail, are unsupported when they walk out of the prison gate. The euphoria of freedom can all too quickly become an emptiness that is filled with drink, drugs and a need for money that leads to crime and back to prison.