Prisons

Holyrood's Public Audit Committee has called for urgent action and long-term strategy to address concerns with Scotland’s prisons services in a new report. The committee’s report into the Scottish Prison Service highlights a number of issues and calls for both urgent and long-term action

Scotland had a prisoner suicide far above the European average in 2022, the Council of Europe annual penal statistics show. In 2022 Scotland reported a suicide rate of 18.9 per 10,000 inmates; this compares to 9.3 suicides per 10,000 inmates in England & Wales and a European median rate of 5.3 &

The Scottish Parliament will be asked to approve the emergency release of some short-term prisoners to address the impacts of a rapid rise in the prison population. The legislation was announced to Parliament earlier this month by the Justice Secretary as an emergency response. If the regulations ar

Scotland's prison population has reached its highest since 2020. The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) confirmed the new figure was 8,100 as of yesterday.

Nearly half the money that GEOAmey paid to the Scottish government in fines over its failure to transport prisoners was handed straight back as ‘support’ to the company in a renegotiated contract. GEOAmey was hit with £4 million worth of fines after repeated failures in the deliver

A decision to give prison officers immunity from prosecution over one of Scotland's most high-profile custody deaths was "incorrect", new documents seen by the BBC show. Allan Marshall, 30, died in March 2015 at HMP Edinburgh after being restrained.

Concerns have been raised that prisoners' right to an hour of exercise in the fresh air every day is “clearly being breached” at Scotland’s holding facility for children and young offenders. HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) stated in its latest report on HMP YOI

Scotland’s prison system is facing considerable risks, including the poor performance of the company that transports prisoners to and from custody, according to a new report. The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) contracted GEOAmey in 2018 to transfer prisoners between prisons, courts, police cust

A disproportionate number of care-experienced children and young people have siblings in prison or secure care, according to a new report which urges action to ensure their right to a sibling relationship is protected. The Staying Connected: Care-experienced children and young people with a sibling

The longest periods prisoners in Scotland have spent on remand continue to increase, new figures show. While median time on remand before departure remained at 21 days in 2022-23, the longest periods spent on remand have risen significantly. In 2017-18, 90 per cent of remand departures had occurred

Prison governors have written to MSPs over "significant concerns" about the rising number of inmates in Scotland. Natalie Beal, chair of the Prison Governors’ Association Scotland (PGAS), said staff were under "significant strain" and called for "urgent mitigation".

Jails are under severe pressure, with the prison population increasing by almost 10 per cent this year. Justice Secretary Angela Constance said the rise was a “significant challenge” and that a further increase would “seriously impact” on staff and prisoners.

The Scottish Prison Service is installing landline phones in cells for the first time to support family contact, mental health and wellbeing, and reduce the risk of reoffending. They will replace prison-issued mobile phones, which were introduced as a temporary measure during the pandemic, when in-p

Scotland has a "very high" incarceration rate, new figures from the Council of Europe show. The end of lockdown measures to tackle the pandemic produced a rebound effect in the incarceration rates in many European countries between January 2021 and January 2022: the median incarceration rate rose by

The Scottish Prison Service has opened the doors for the first time to the new £85.7 million HMP & YOI Stirling, a replacement facility for HMP Cornton Vale.