Scottish prisons becoming 'human warehouses' due to overcrowding crisis

Key Points

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland says overcrowding makes it difficult to uphold basic human rights
Prisoners at HMP Barlinnie were not receiving daily showers
Relationships between staff and prisoners are strained
Lack of purposeful activity and time out of cells is contributing to deteriorating mental health and a rise in deaths and suicides in custody, inspector says
Watchdog reports that many prisoners are locked in their cells for over 22 hours a day
Emergency measures to release prisoners early is temporary and unsustainable, inspector says

Scotland’s prisons are becoming “human warehouses” due to the ongoing overcrowding crisis, the chief inspector has warned.

Sara Snell voiced her concerns after the Scottish Government approved the release of hundreds more prisoners to ease population numbers.

In the latest round of early releases, criminals serving sentences of less than four years and within 180 days of their original legal release date could be considered for the scheme.

It comes as the number of prisoners in Scottish jails is higher than before the previous early release schemes.

The Scottish prison population has surged by more than 200 in the past three months and now stands at 8,363, one of the highest levels ever recorded.

The justice secretary said ten of Scotland’s 17 prisons are at “red risk status” and ten are “on or over their assessed capacity tolerance”.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland has said further release is necessary to address the “paralysing” issue of overcrowding, which is affecting every aspect of prison life, including complying with core human rights such as access to fresh air.

An inspection from HMP Barlinnie in November 2024 found that prisoners were not provided with daily showers.

Overcrowding has also been found to be hindering access to work, education and positive activities, meaning the transformation of person-focused support is lost.

This, in turn, is impacting prisoners integrating successfully on release and staying away from crime, and turning prisons into “human warehouses”, the inspector said.

HMIPS said it is seeing increasing numbers of people locked in their cells for more than 22 hours a day, which is adversely affecting mental health.

“Lack of time out of cell and lack of access to purposeful activity or programmes adversely affects mental health, which is particularly disturbing in the context of the extremely worrying rise in the number of deaths in custody in Scotland, and the number of suicides in Scottish prisons”, the statement outlined.

“With overcrowding at the current level, there is also absolutely no surge capacity elsewhere to accommodate the potential loss of a hall or accommodation block, were there to be significant prisoner unrest.”

Since taking the position in February this year, the inspector said she has seen the prison system “struggling to cope with the number of prisoners it is now being asked to accommodate and the complexity of the prisoner population it has to try to manage safely”.

Ms Snell said that, while the further release is supported, it has not addressed any of the root causes of the problem, and longer-term solutions must be adopted “swiftly”.

Initial tranches of the latest release are due to take place in November and December, subject to Parliament’s approval.

Justice secretary Angela Constance said: “I share the Inspectorate’s concerns about the pressures on prisons following unprecedented rises in prisoner numbers and welcome support for the emergency measures announced yesterday. These measures, which will be accompanied by stringent public safeguards, will help to ensure the sustained, safe and effective operation of prisons.

“We are continuing to work with the Scottish Prison Service and partners on further measures to manage the complex prison population in a sustainable way. In the longer term, this will be informed by the recommendations of the independent Sentencing and Penal Policy Commission, which we established earlier this year and is due to report by the end of 2025.”