THERE is an ‘overwhelming’ and ‘urgent’ need for a replacement prison to HMP Barlinnie, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMPIS) has said in a new report.
HMP Barlinnie, which dates back to 1882, is due to be replaced by HMP Glasgow which is scheduled for completion in 2028. However, HMPIS warned that areas of HMP Barlinnie are in a ‘wretchedly poor’ state, with ‘unacceptable’ levels of overcrowding.
At the time of its inspection, the prison was more than 30% above its design capacity – with almost two thirds of prisoners having to share cells despite the facility being designed for single occupancy.
The need to hold mixed categories of prisoner in A and B hall due to overcrowding limited the ability of staff to get people out of their cells safely, meaning that prisoners who were not at education or work could be locked up for 22 hours a day – which HMPIS said is ‘unacceptable’.
The organisation explained that overcrowding makes it harder to access basic entitlements. Further to this, 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.
HMPIS added that may in part explain the most worrying aspect of its pre-inspection survey, which found more than half (55%) of prisoners said they had witnessed staff members abusing, bullying, threatening, or assaulting another prisoner, and 42% reported that staff had abused, bullied, threatened, or assaulted them.
Inspectors stated they never witnessed any unacceptable behaviour and reported observing staff engaging prisoners in ‘cheerful but respectful’ light-hearted banter. However, the organisation urged the prison to reflect on the survey findings.
HMPIS also reported that it was ‘pleasing’ to see that the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) had completely refurbished HMP Barlinnie’s reception area, as well as the health centre being reconfigured and modernised which created a better experience for prisoners.
The introduction of the new resource hub – where prisoners can seek the help of external agencies, as well as the library, or play snooker or pool – was deemed an ‘impressive’ development.
Meanwhile, the prison’s wellbeing hub was marked as highly commendable, whilst the sensory room was reported as an ‘excellent’ resource for families and children to access a quiet space.
HMPIS said, “The perceptions of prisoners in the pre-inspection survey indicate that until a new modern HMP Glasgow comes on stream, further efforts must be made to overcome the significant challenges posed by an antiquated and overcrowded prison. We strongly urge the Scottish Government to do more to reduce the overall prison population and tackle the fundamental problem of overcrowding that affects HMP Barlinnie.”
