Inside site of Scotland's newest prison that's years late and four times over budget

It is years late and millions of pounds over budget but a new Inverness prison is taking shape.

The Scottish Government has allowed media cameras onto the construction site to record the progress.

Other than an ominous grey wall on the far side of the site, there is nothing to suggest it will be a penal facility.

The 200-capacity prison taking shape on the outskirts of Inverness is the long-awaited replacement for an antiquated, Victorian-built and frequently overcrowded Porterfield jail, in the city centre.

HMP Highland in Inverness is currently under construction. STV News

The radical design of HMP Highland will indicate a new focus.

Speaking during a visit to the site, Scottish justice secretary Angela Constance said: “It will be focussed on those imperative community links, not just ensuring that people make amends for their past crimes but is also forward-looking in terms of rehabilitating people and reintegrating them into the community.”

A series of problems, not least emanating from the pandemic and Brexit, has been blamed for delays in building the new prison.

The cost has soared to more than £200m – £60m of that in the past two years.

The price has quadrupled in a decade and the timetable for construction delayed by at least six years. Scottish Government ministers are, however, confident it will be open by August 2026.

CGI mock-up of HMP Highland in Inverness. STV News

Scottish Prison Service chief Lorraine Roughan said: “The concept of a new prison replacing HMP Inverness has been on the cards now since 2008.

“To have secured this site, got planning permission and started the design work back in 2017 and now to see it in the last couple of years, has been absolutely important but it’s been not visible, underground.”

The new prison will accommodate almost twice as many men as the existing Inverness jail.

It will feature an integrated “family centre”, available to community groups as a focal point for visitors.

It will not, however, have cells for women inmates because numbers are considered too low. Female prisoners will instead be sent to HMP Stirling where specialist facilities exist.