PHONE lines should be installed in Scottish jail cells to help prisoners connect with their families, it has been claimed.
Think tank Reform Scotland is calling for a landline pilot project to help inmates maintain family ties and cut reoffending.
Similar schemes are already in place in some jails in England and Wales and a report by the National Audit Office in 2013 found it could aid prisoner safety.
The Howard League for Scotland and Families Outside both back the call.
However, the Scottish Prison Service has no plans to introduce in-cell phones.
Alison Payne, research director at Reform Scotland, said: “Rehabilitating prisoners and preventing re-offending is important not just for the prisoner, but also for his or her family and for society as a whole.
“If family contact helps to reduce reoffending, as well as helping those left outside, then it is something that needs to be encouraged. We challenge the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Government to be bold and innovative as we try to close the revolving door of reoffending.”
Scottish Government figures released in May show the number of people receiving a second conviction within one year is at an 18-year low. Reconvictions fell by almost 20 per cent between 1997-98 and 2014-15.
However, almost 60 per cent of those released from short-term sentences of six months or less were reconvicted within a year. The same is true of around one third of those on community payback orders.
Currently contact with family members is limited for inmates by travel distance and cost and the frequency and duration of visits.
Calls are made on restricted-use telephone lines and emails are printed out and delivered to prisoners with the post.
Reform Scotland also wants a ban on prison sentences of six months or less and an end to automatic early release for short sentences.
The Families Outside charity, which supports relatives of prisoners, backs the call, while Lisa Mackenzie of Howard League Scotland told The National: “Maintaining family relationships is key to a prisoner’s successful rehabilitation on release.
"Not all prisoners receive regular visits from family members. Female prisoners in particular are less likely to be visited by their children than male prisoners.
“The ability to maintain contact via phone calls is therefore very important and some prisons in England have experimented with the introduction of in-cell phones.”
The Scottish Prison Service said: “The Scottish Prison Service recognises the importance of maintaining family links with a family member during their time in custody and continues to look at ways in which we can support and enhance this.”
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