Prison population
Perhaps my current reading matter has influenced my thinking but my thoughts are drawn towards the disclosure that last year.
The reading matter? "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote, a near-obsessive examination of a notably brutal multiple murder.
In particular, Capote scrutinises the societal and personal motivations underlying the crime.
With regard to the Scottish data, I know that the prison stats record an "all-time high" virtually daily as more are sent to the slammer and for longer sentences.
These figures, therefore, merely confirm a trend, based on averaging out the daily stats. However, it is a deeply disturbing trend.
Scotland's prison population has, this week, .
The rate of increase is steeper. We should not allow familiarity to negate the necessary political debate.
An element to note in passing is that the use of community sentences is also at a record high.
In other words, it is not that the courts are ignoring or entirely setting aside alternatives to custody.
The prison service plays with the hand it is dealt.
Scotland's prisons, Scotland's officers, cope as they can with the numbers sent to them by the courts. They, rightly, take no part in the political debate.
To be fair, that political debate is vigorous, if inevitably a little repetitive.
For example, Bill Aitken for the Tories forecast that SNP ministers would "abuse these figures to argue their dangerous case that fewer criminals should be sent to prison".
Justice Minister Kenny Macaskill said that, far from advancing a dangerous case, he was attempting to deal with "the absurd situation" inherited by the Scottish Government.
Mr Macaskill noted that prison disposals had increased, despite a falling overall crime rate.
If one were being cheeky, one might suggest that recruiting more police will mean yet more arrests, more court appearances and - guess what?
Next week, ministers will set out their governmental programme for the year ahead at Holyrood.
Criminal justice and sentencing policy will feature prominently.
I'd welcome your views - as, I feel sure, would the politicians.
Do we send too many to prison - perhaps especially those whose behaviour is driven by addiction or deprivation?
Or is it entirely right that society be protected from offenders? Should we simply expand the prison estate to cope?
I'm 
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