Inspectors have called out the “wretchedly poor state” of Scotland’s largest prison after reviewing the responses of a pre-inspection survey distributed at HMP Barlinnie.
The HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) has “strongly urged” the Scottish Government to act quickly to find solutions for the “fundamental problem” of overcrowding.
HMIPS has revealed HMP Barlinnie houses 30 per cent more prisoners above its design capacity.
The 143-year-old prison on the outskirts of Glasgow has a capacity for an average daily population of 987, but hundreds more reside there today with almost two thirds of prisoners expected to share cells designed for just one person.
HMP Barlinnie on the outskirts of Glasgow has a capacity for an average daily population of 987, but hundreds more reside there today
PA
Despite the significant challenge of overcrowding, HMIPS said the “the most worrying aspect” of the pre-inspection survey was more than half (55 per cent) of prisoners saying they had witnessed staff “abusing, bullying, threatening or assaulting” another prisoner and 42 per cent reporting those actions directed at themselves.
HMIPS said in its report: “Overcrowding makes it harder to access basic entitlements.
“It also makes it harder for staff to build and retain positive relationships, and the additional daily transactional work in dealing with more prisoners than a prison is designed to accommodate can put a strain on services and relationships.
“That may, in part, explain the most worrying aspect of our pre-inspection survey, where more than half (55 per cent) of prisoners said they had witnessed staff members abusing, bullying, threatening or assaulting another prisoner, and 42 per cent reported that staff had abused, bullied, threatened, or assaulted them.”
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said it takes a “zero tolerance approach to bullying” and noted that inspectors witnessed staff being “engaging and respectful” to inmates.
A spokesperson for SPS said: “The Scottish Prison Service takes a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and, while we note inspectors did not witness bullying but rather found staff to be engaging and respectful to people in the care of HMP Barlinnie, we are not complacent and are committed to developing a new strategy later this year after drawing on external expertise.”
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The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said it takes a 'zero tolerance approach to bullying' and noted that inspectors witnessed staff being 'engaging and respectful' to inmates
PA
They added: “We have been managing an extremely high and complex population for more than a year, and this puts pressure on everyone living and working in our establishments.”
The Scottish Government are banking on a new-built prison to replace HMP Barlinnie to relieve the strain of overcrowding on the Scottish Prison Service.
HMP Glasgow was given the go-ahead in February and will have a boosted capacity of 1,344 - an additional 357 to Scotland’s buckling prison estate.
The project developed by Keir Construction is expected to be completed in 2028 at the cost of £1 billion to the tax payer.
Justice Secretary Angela Constance said she was pleased HMIPS reported Barlinnie as a “safe, stable, well-run prison” in their report.
She continued: “I recognise, however, the need for a replacement, which is why a contract was signed in January to build the new HMP Glasgow.
The Scottish Government are banking on a new-built prison to replace HMP Barlinnie to relieve the strain of overcrowding on the Scottish Prison Service
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“It will increase prison capacity, transform how prisoners are rehabilitated, improve staff working conditions and generate up to £450million worth of economic benefits.”
Similarly to in England and Wales, the Scottish Government has attempted to tackle prison overcrowding with an emergency bill passed in November 2024, allowing certain prisoners to be released early from prison custody.
Prisoners sentenced to fewer than four years were permitted to be released after spending just 40% of their sentence, instead of the usual 50 per cent, excluding prisoners serving time for violent crimes including domestic abuse, sexual assault and terrorism.
A total of 390 prisoners were released in February and March in three tranches.
A similar emergency measure was implemented last summer with 477 prisoners granted early release, but 15 per cent were back behind bars within weeks and the overall prison population had returned to the level prior to release.
