Since the SNP came to power 18 years ago the prison population has soared - despite recommendations by a Commission Alex Salmond set up to bring it down.
Today the number of people in Scotland's jails is now approaching a record high with governors fear an outbreak of rioting looms unless fundamental changes takes place.
Ironically, the upwards trend has happened while there has been a fall in violent recorded crime.
The issue of prisons bursting at the seams is not a new phenomenon.
How did we get here?
Seventeen years ago the Auditor General for Scotland rang alarm bells over prison overcrowding noting the country's prisons were "among the most overcrowded in Western Europe" and had grown by a fifth since 2000/2001.
"In 2006/07, the average daily prison population was around 7,200 – the highest annual figure ever recorded. In April 2008, the number of prisoners held in Scotland’s prisons reached an all-time high of around 7,700," he wrote in his 2008 report "Managing increasing prisoner numbers in Scotland".
Yet on February 28 this year Scotland's prison population stood at 8350, despite the release since last summer of hundreds of short term prisoners under a emergency release scheme and under new legislation, and predictions by government analysts seen by governors suggest it is on course to reach 8900 by the summer.
So what has the Scottish Government been doing and why has it failed to deliver on its promises?
An initial major piece of work to examine reforming the prison system and bring prisoner numbers down was commissioned by former SNP First Minister Alex Salmond.
Recommendations
The former Labour First Minister, who was a justice minister in the UK government before devolution, recommended cutting the prison population from 8000 to 5000 in line with similar sized countries in western Europe.
His report recommended that imprisonment should be reserved for "people whose offences are so serious that no other form of punishment will do" and "for those who pose a threat of serious harm to the public" and that "paying back in the community should become the default position in dealing with less serious offenders."
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It also recommended that the government explore options for "detaining 16 and 17 year olds in secure youth facilities separate from older offenders and those under the age of 16" and a wider use of conditional or suspended sentences by judges meaning that a period of custody is imposed but suspended subject to the offender keeping to a strict set of conditions.
Three years later Mr Salmond's new majority SNP government asked the former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini to chair a second commission on prison reform, this time examining how the prison system treats women offenders.
Her 2012 report Commission on Women's Offending in Scotland found that the only exclusively female prison in Scotland, HMP Cornton Vale, was not “fit for purpose”.
It found that Cornton Vale could house around 300 women, though this number was often exceeded and, as a consequence, women were not getting the services and support they needed, and rehabilitation opportunities were not satisfactory.
It also pointed out that women offenders tend to have complex issues and needs with many having experienced domestic abuse, mental health problems, and drug and alcohol addictions – most of which were not treated during incarceration.
It recommended: "For...women who have been repeatedly convicted of committing lower level offences, their offending is often the result of significant underlying issues, such as drug or alcohol addiction and mental health problems, that could be better addressed in the community."
The Commission did not completely rule out the use of prison for female offenders recognising that it is necessary for serious offenders. However, it underlined the need for prisons to try and rehabilitate female offenders.
In 2015, proposals were made for a new £75 million women’s prison, with the same capacity as HMP Cornton Vale, to be built in Inverclyde. However, after wide consultation, the then Justice Secretary, Michael Matheson, rejected this proposal and opted for a different approach.
“Short sentences do nothing to stop reoffending in our communities and only result in offenders going in and out of prison time and time again and reoffending upon release. In my view, we need to act on the evidence, be braver in our approach and take the bold action needed to tackle these ineffective sentences”.
What happened next?
Instead of the new prison in Inverclyde, Mr Matheson decided to build a smaller prison on the site of HMP Cornton Vale with the capacity for only 80 women. In addition to the new prison, new community custodial units will be built around the country.
The first two of five planned community custody units, each accommodating 20 women, opened in Glasgow and Dundee, and aimed to focus on addressing the underlying issues which women offenders face.
However, around the same time Mr Matheson established a Scottish Sentencing Council and legislation to end the automatic early release of long term prisoners - those serving four years or more.
Some believe that both have led to an increase in long term prisoners, the former by leading to the length of sentences imposed by the courts increasing and the second by keeping long term prisoners in custody for longer.
Governors now want this legislation scrapped and for the government to return to the system as it was before February 2016 believing it has helped "clog up" prisoners with long term prisoners.
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