Nicola Sturgeon said there is more work to do to keep young people out of prison.

The First Minister said she backs the presumption that no under 18 should be dealt with through the criminal justice system but admitted there are still too many under 18s in custody.

Willie Rennie, LibDem MSP, had raised the cases of five young people, including three from Glasgow, and one 16 year old who died in custody at Polmont Young Offenders Institute in recent years.

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He listed Jack McKenzie, from Shettleston who was 20, Katie Allan, a Glasgow University student, who died age 20, William Lindsay, who died age 16, from Possilpark, Robert Wagstaff, who was 18 from Paisley and Liam Kerr, who was 19 from Paisley.

Rennie said: “Those five young people all took their own lives at Polmont young offenders institution in the last five years.

“The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland believes the conditions for children in prison were in breach of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in article 3 of the European convention on human rights. How many more damning reports will be published and how many more young people will have to die before this shameful situation comes to an end?

Sturgeon said there were 221 on one day in 2007 and 15 one day this year.

She said:“However, there is more to do. We are committed to reducing that number further. We all want Scotland’s young people to be safeguarded within the youth justice system and kept out of young offenders institutions, and we will consult shortly on necessary legislative changes to underpin the changes in practice that I have just narrated.”