TWO mini prisons for women are to be opened by 2020 as part of a radical reform in how the Scottish justice system deals with female offenders.

The community custody units will be built in Glasgow’s Maryhill and Dundee, and will each hold 20 low-risk inmates.

The move was announced yesterday by the Scottish Government and follows a long-running campaign by penal reform and feminist groups calling for more support to be given to women who offend. It follows research that suggests women are often struggling against complex problems relating to drug and alcohol addictions and mental health issues.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said the units would aid rehabilitation by holding prisoners closer to their homes.

The development comes just weeks after work began on the demolition of Scotland’s national female prison, HMP Cornton Vale in Stirling, which had been hit by a series of negative inspection reports and a series of suicides dating back to the 1990s. It was also the focus of criticism by Dame Elish Angiolini in her 2012 Commission of Women Offenders report, in which she described it as “not fit for purpose”.

After Angiolini’s report was published ministers initially planned to replace Cornton Vale with a new £75 million women’s prison in Greenock, but Matheson scrapped the plan in 2015 after fresh warnings by campaigners.

They said the new “super prison” would be at risk of replicating the problems experienced at Cornton Vale by virtue of continuing to lock up vulnerable women who posed little risk. Currently, the Scottish Prison Service is developing plans for a smaller prison for about 80 women at the Stirling site.

Yesterday Matheson told Holyrood that there was an increasing shift in favour of community sentences. He said that was why the Scottish Government wanted a presumption against prison sentences of 12 months or less.

“There will always be cases where the court rightly takes the view that a prison sentence is absolutely justified, but for those who do end up in custody, we must think beyond bricks and mortar,” he said, paying tribute to the professionalism of Scotland’s prison staff.

However, he told MSPs that short jail terms should be imposed when they are the only suitable option – citing evidence that over half those released from a prison sentence of 12 months or less – with little scope for effective rehabilitation – are re-convicted within a year, compared to a third of those who had served a community sentence.

He said: “A just, equitable and inclusive society is one that is supported by a progressive evidence-based justice system; a system which works with communities to reduce – and ultimately prevent – further offending.

“A system which holds individuals to account for their offending, but ultimately supports them to make positive contributions to our communities.

“Over the past decade this government has taken steps to end our reliance on custody and move towards effective community sentences that enhance public safety and promote rehabilitation, and which evidence shows are more effective at reducing reoffending and thus reducing the risk of further victims.”

Labour’s Clare Baker said the presumption against a custodial sentence would be a hard sell to victims of crime and called on Matheson to ensure community options “are properly resourced”.

Tory MSP Liam Kerr questioned the effectiveness of community sentences, arguing that after a decade of the SNP the rate of reoffending has “barely shifted”.

Matheson said that the re-conviction rate was at its lowest level in 18 years and an extra £4m had been supplied for community sentence programmes.