The Scottish Prisons Commission was a commission established by the Scottish Government in 2007 to "analyse the impact for courts, prisons and community justice services of early release provisions contained in the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007".

Terms of reference

The terms of reference were:

• Consider how imprisonment is currently used in Scotland and how that use fits with the Government’s wider strategic objectives.
• Raise the public profile of this issue, providing better information to allow a deeper understanding of the options, outcomes and costs.
• Assess the impact for courts, prisons and community justice services of early release provisions of the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007.

Members

The members were:

• The Rt. Hon. Henry McLeish
  Henry McLeish
  Henry Baird McLeish is a Scottish Labour Party politician, author and academic. Formerly a professional association football player, McLeish was the Member of Parliament for Central Fife from 1987 to 2001 and the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Fife from 1999 to 2003, during which...
  
   (Chair) – former First Minister of Scotland
  First Minister of Scotland
  The First Minister of Scotland is the political leader of Scotland and head of the Scottish Government. The First Minister chairs the Scottish Cabinet and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Scottish Government policy...
  
  , Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
  Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
  The Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning was a cabinet position in the Scottish Executive. The position was first created in the 1999 as part of the Dewar government and continued into the McLeish cabinet. Following the election of Jack McConnell as First Minister in 2001 transportation...
  
  , Minister for Devolution and Home Affairs
• Dr Karin Dotter-Schiller – Acting Director-General, Prison Service in the Federal Ministry of Justice in Vienna, Austria
  Austria
  Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
  
  ; founder member, International Corrections and Prisons Association
  International Corrections and Prisons Association
  The International Corrections and Prisons Association is a not-for-profit association for criminal justice professionals to join in a dialogue and to share ideas and practices aimed at advancing professional corrections...
  
  
• Sheriff Alistair Duff – Dundee; Chair, Dundee branch of the Scottish Association for the Study of Offending
• Geraldine Gammell – Director, The Prince's Trust
  The Prince's Trust
  The Prince's Trust is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by Charles, Prince of Wales to help young people. They run a range of training programmes, provide mentoring support and offer financial grants to build the confidence and motivation of disadvantaged young people...
  
   in Scotland
• Richard Jeffrey – President, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce; Chair, Edinburgh Tourism Action Group
• Lesley Riddoch
  Lesley Riddoch
  Lesley Riddoch is a British radio broadcaster and journalist who lives in Perth.-Early career:Lesley Riddoch was born in England in 1963, spent her childhood in Belfast then moved to Glasgow in 1973 where she attended a local fee-paying private school...
  
   – broadcaster and journalist
• Chief Constable
  Chief Constable
  Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...
  
   David Strang – Lothian and Borders Police
  Lothian and Borders Police
  Lothian and Borders Police is the territorial police force for the Scottish council areas of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian...
  
  

See also

• Prison Commission (Scotland)
  Prison Commission (Scotland)
  The Prison Commission was a public body of the Government of the United Kingdom established in 1877 and responsible for the operation of what is now the Scottish Prison Service...
  
  , a defunct public body that oversaw the operation of prisons in Scotland from 1877-1939
• Prison Commission (England and Wales)
  Prison Commission (England and Wales)
  The Prison Commission was a public body of the Government of the United Kingdom established in 1877 and responsible for overseeing the operation of HM Prison Service...
  
  , a defunct public body that oversaw the operation of prisons in England and Wales from 1877-1963