We cannot build our way out of prison overcrowding, minister warns

Scotland cannot build its way out of overcrowded prisons, the Justice Secretary has said.

Angela Constance took questions from MSPs on Tuesday after announcing a review into the use of custodial sentences in a bid to reduce the prison population, which currently sits at 7,959.

Ms Constance insisted the Government is still committed to the building of HMP Glasgow to replace the ageing HMP Barlinnie, but said other interventions are needed.

“In terms of building more prisons, I will be direct with Parliament, we cannot build our way out of this,” she said.

“Not least because the capital budget available to this Parliament over the next five years will be reduced by 10%.”

Pressed on the Government’s commitment to the Glasgow prison replacement – which Ms Constance told a committee last year would cost more than £400 million – the Justice Secretary said: “In terms of HMP Barlinnie, we have no option than to replace HMP Barlinnie.

“As I said in the not-too-distant past in this chamber, once we have the final design we will be able to give much more clarity on the final costs.

“The costs are not insignificant and we will be able to give more absolute clarity around specific timescales, but plans are progressing and the designs are progressing and we’ve got a much better feel for the capacity and the model that would operate within the prison.”

The review, Ms Constance said, will be “externally led” and will “allow us to revisit the fundamental question of how imprisonment and community-based sentences are used”.

She added: “We must do more to develop community interventions with increased breadth and depth, so that the courts have a greater selection of options to deal robustly and constructively with the individuals before them.

“The prison population in Scotland remains too high and the needs of those in prison are increasingly complex.

“While a range of work is under way to respond to this, we also need to understand and address its root causes.

“The aim of this review is not about reducing the prison population as an end in itself, but ensuring that custody is used for the right people at the right time.”

The review is expected to be complete by the end of the parliamentary session in 2026.

Phil Fairlie, the assistant secretary of the Prison Officers Association, said members are having to deal with prisons operating “above their safe capacity”.

He added: “When we add chronic drug use, widespread mental health issues, the influence of organised crime groups and increasing violence and self-harm, we have a very challenging and potentially dangerous environment for all within it.

“Prison is supposed to be a place of rehabilitation where offenders are incarcerated as a punishment for their crimes but at the same time helped to address the root cause of their offending behaviour.

“Prison staff are under so much pressure that the opportunities to work constructively with prisoners are becoming increasingly limited.

“Our plea on this issue is not for more prisons, it is for fewer prisoners.”

He said the union will “always work” with the Scottish Prison Service and Scottish Government to tackle overcrowding, but he stressed change cannot be done “on the cheap or by maintaining the status quo”.