ABSTRACT
In our discussion of institutional and discursive change in the first two chapters of this book, we examined developments in penal policy up to the mid-1980s. As we developed some of our main themes in subsequent chapters, we referred to the emerging pressures on the Scottish prison system, in particular to overcrowding and the hostagetaking incidents which took place in many prisons. Since the mid1980s, at least partly in response to these pressures, the Scottish Prison Service has produced a series of policy documents in an attempt to recast the management of the adult, male, long-term prison system. In this chapter we examine these documents in terms of the discourse matrix set out in Chapter 2 above. We consider them in the order in which they were produced in order to highlight the changing course of the debates and struggles which took place during this period. Although we make few explicit references back to our analysis of administrative decisions and mechanisms of accountability in Chapters 3 – 8, our account of policy in this chapter is both informed by and, we hope, consistent with our earlier accounts of administrative practices.
