Prisons

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.

Plans to hold young offenders under the age of 18 in secure care rather than young offender institutes (YOIs) will require additional resources, a Holyrood committee has warned. There are significantly higher costs associated with holding young people in secure care rather than YOIs, the criminal ju

The UK government is considering plans to reduce reoffending and address labour shortages in England and Wales by allowing more prisoners to go on day release and work in industries such as construction, haulage, and hospitality. Currently, only a quarter of those leaving prison have a job within si

New research suggests that the burden of care and costs associated with supporting someone in prison in Scotland falls disproportionately on women, with many spending half their income or more in costs relating to their family member’s imprisonment. The families of people held in prison overwh

Around a quarter of Scotland's prison population last year was held on remand, the largest proportion on remand on record, new figures show. The Scottish government yesterday published its prison population statistics for 2021–22, showing that the average daily remand population increased by a

In its new report published today on its visit to Bulgaria in October 2021, the Council of Europe’s committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) hails rare occurrences of ill-treatment by staff, reduction of prison population and certain improvements in living conditions. However, it regrets

There are just 16 transgender prisoners across the entire Scottish prison estate and most are not held in prisons corresponding to their identity, new figures show. According to a report published by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) last week, there were 11 trans women and five trans men in Scottis

Legal Services Agency has launched a new project which will provide support to people detained in HMP Greenock and Low Moss by offering tailored legal advice and representation, to empower individuals to understand their housing options and navigate legal processes. The project, Disrupting Cycles of

MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee are to examine plans put forward by the Scottish government which would overhaul systems in place around the release of prisoners and use of bail by courts. The new Bail and Release from Custody Bill, which the government hopes will

Scotland has the highest prison population rate in the UK and one of the highest in Europe, a new report shows. The 47-nation Council of Europe has today published its Annual Penal Statistics for 2021, compiled by the University of Lausanne.

Two prisoners who had their petition for review of a prison authority decision to prohibit them from making inter-prison phone calls to each other refused have been denied permission to make a further appeal against the decision to the UK Supreme Court.  Charles O’Neill and William Lauchl

Under-18s should not be sent to jail, Scotland's chief inspector of prisons has said. Wendy Sinclair Gieben has written to ministers calling for new laws to end imprisonment of 16 and 17-year-olds by the end of March.

Balfour Beatty has been awarded the contract for the first stage of the Scottish Prison Service’s (SPS) project for the design and construction of HMP Highland, designed by BakerHicks.