NEARLY two-thirds of women offenders were on drugs when they committed crime and almost half were drunk, a new survey of female inmates found.
The revelations come just days before the publication of a special commission on women prisoners in Scotland by Dame Elish Angiolini.
Dame Angiolini's report is expected to call for the abolition of Cornton Vale, the country's only all-female prison, and the creation of a much smaller secure unit built in the west of Scotland to make it more accessible for visitors.
The report, to be published on Tuesday, is also expected to call for less serious offenders to be housed in satellite units across the country. Female offenders have already been moved to Edinburgh and Greenock.
The special commission was launched last June following a report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland criticising Cornton Vale as "an unacceptably poor establishment", with significant failings across all key areas of provision.
The new report indicates that the problems faced by female offenders are far worse than previously thought. Some 60% of offenders were under the influence of drugs when they committed their crime while 42% were under the influence of alcohol.
The official prison service survey of 375 female inmates also revealed that almost half had been in prison on remand up to five times previously.
Almost three-quarters of female offenders – some 72% – said their friends and family faced difficulties visiting them. Two-thirds of the women in Scotland's prisons have children.
The report states: "Contact with friends and family in the community is of vital importance to the majority of prisoners and can impact on their quality of life and mental welfare.
"Almost three-quarters of female offenders reported that their families and friends faced difficulties visiting them compared to two thirds of male prisoners (63%). Distance, cost and time limits were the most commonly reported problems for both female and male prisoners."
For the first time, the 2011 female prisoner survey asked whether prisoners had been in care at any point during their childhood. More than one-third, some 37%, reported being in care, as compared to a quarter of male prisoners.
The researchers said this "tends to emphasise the higher levels of social and psychological disadvantage to be found in the female prisoner population".
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