PLANS for mixed-sex jails are being considered by the Scottish Prison Service in a bid to allow offenders to serve their sentences closer to home.
Prison bosses believe "community-facing" jails would help maintain better links with families, other services such as GPs and give a better chance of curbing reoffending on release.
Male and female inmates would be housed together and nearer their
homes as part of the proposals.
Under the proposals, new purpose-built centres would hold remand and convicted prisoners of both sexes instead of having specialist prisons for women, sex offenders or young people.
The new approach is likely to be tested first at HMP Grampian, which is due to be built on the existing site of Peterhead Prison and set to open in 2012.
Ian Gunn, governor of Cornton Vale, Scotland's only female prison, said he would back the scheme as long as appropriate facilities were provided for women.
He said: "Ideally we would shake up the whole population and move them to the nearest place to where they will live when they leave prison."
Mr Gunn added: "In future we would not need a Cornton Vale of 400 females.
"You might have a population of just 100. We have only got about 80 long-termers serving four years or more and less than 20 lifers.
"We could have a viable population of long termers and local people housed here and then other women housed in other prisons in Scotland. It is a long way in the future."
He continued: "HMP Grampian will be custom built.
"Trying to operate different populations and separate regimes within the same prison would be immensely complicated unless they are purpose built.
"It would mean females and young offenders would need to be put together but there are specific rules about keeping them separate."
Scotland's prison population increased every year this century and is projected to reach 8700 inmates by 2016.
Earlier this month a report by the Scottish Prison Commission, chaired by former First Minister Henry McLeish called for the prison population to be cut to 5000 within a decade.
The Scottish Government is expected to publish its response to the commission's recommendations in the autumn.
Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill has in the past argued for an end to sentences of less than six months and more use of community sentences and "payback" by offenders.
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: "HMP Grampian will be purpose built.
"It is a prison which will have to cater for everyone.
"If we develop more and more community-facing prisons and disperse the female population into accommodation across Scotland, designed to meet their needs, we become less dependent on Cornton Vale."
