This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Barlinnie prison report
12/08/2004
Barlinnie is hugely overcrowded and this is effecting safety, staff/prisoner relationships and prisoners' access to recreation and purposeful activity, according to the latest report from the Chief Inspector of Prisons.
Dr Andrew McLellan's report, which describes a follow up inspection in April, draws attention to:
- An overcrowded prison where facilities are having to do much more than they were designed for
- Prisoners spending long hours in their cells
- Unacceptable cubicles - essentially cupboards with a bench - in the reception area.
However, the report also praises the prison for:
- Reducing levels of violence
- Making progress on race relations, with the appointment of a race relations development staff, creation of a race relations monitoring group and publication of translation packs
- Becoming more organised in its approach to administering methadone
- Improving arrangements for induction with provision of a daily Induction Programme
- Taking significant steps towards ending slopping out.
Dr McLellan said:
"Since last year's inspection, when overcrowding dominated nearly every conversation about the prison, the problem has got worse.
"Staff numbers do not rise to deal with overcrowding, so the amount of time which prison staff can spend with prisoners - a key matter in maintaining good relationships and providing opportunities for reducing reoffending - is increasingly restricted.
"We can not take it for granted that Barlinnie will continue to function appropriately if prisoner numbers rise each year. However, it is a matter of note that it functions at all in these circumstances. Indeed the prison is progressing in a number of areas.
"The closure of 'A' Hall to install integral sanitation and the new arrangements in part of Letham Hall represented, at the time of inspection, very significant steps towards ending slopping out in Barlinnie. However, cell sharing where slopping out remained made the process even more wretched.
"While my report refers to a follow-up inspection carried out between April 27 - 29 2004, it has been well documented that since then slopping out in Barlinnie has finally ended. I am delighted by this development and I hope that this degrading practice will soon be brought to an end across the prison estate.
"Steps have been taken to ensure that food is less cold when it is served. Levels of violence are down compared to last year and progress has been made in the area of race relations. Arrangements for induction have improved considerably and the prison is now more organised in its approach to administering methadone.
"However, two serious matters raised in last year's report have not improved. When prisoners enter Barlinnie they are kept in tiny holding cubicles - essentially cupboards with a bench. These have recently been painted but they are still oppressive. Secondly, some prisoners spend long hours locked up in their cells, particularly those on remand. Remand prisoners are no longer slopping out - which is a step forward - however they still have few opportunities to spend their time in a useful way.
"Overall, however, this is an encouraging report given the strains being placed on the prison by the high levels of overcrowding."
Scotland's prisons are subject to regular inspection. A full inspection normally takes place every three years and examines all aspects of the establishment. Follow up inspections are carried out in years where a full inspection does not take place and these examine points of note raised in previous inspections, examine significant changes since then, and explore issues arising from the establishment's own assessment of itself.
The inspection of Barlinnie was a follow up inspection with a focus on conditions in which prisoners live and on the way prisoners are treated.