A “CRISIS point has been reached” in Scotland’s prisons as population levels hit a new high, the Prison Officers Association (POA) will warn today.

The union, which represents 4,000 front-line staff in Scotland’s jails, outlined the full scale of the crisis in the service, drawing on the experiences of members as they manage not just overcrowding, but an ever more challenging and complex prisoner mix, growing levels of violence, widespread drug misuse, and self-harm.

The report, titled Crisis Point Reached, highlights that the unbearable pressure of working under such conditions was not only driving a collapse in staff morale but causing real harm to the prisoners themselves.

Launching the paper, which sets out 41 recommendations for change, POA assistant general secretary Phil Fairlie said: “Crisis point really has been reached in Scotland’s prisons and our members are on the front line of it.

“These skilled workers desperately want to do the job they are trained to do but are being prevented from doing so because of the intense pressures they face on a daily basis. 

“The toxic combination of overcrowding and understaffing is having a huge impact on every officer in every prison, and is the root cause of many of the problems experienced by both staff and prisoners.”

Mr Fairlie said that a key demand in the report is how addressing overcrowding requires investment in both personnel and the prison estate.

“However, there are 40 further demands that must also be addressed if Scotland’s prison system is to operate in a safe, humane and rehabilitative manner delivering what society expects with a workforce that is respected, rewarded and looked after,” he said.

“The Scottish government and Scottish Prison Service would be wise not to ignore its findings.”
Justice secretary Angela Constance said: “I welcome this report which demonstrates the pressures and challenges currently facing prison staff at a time of high population and I appreciate the hard work of all staff in our prisons.

“I want a safe and rehabilitative prison environment and have taken a number of actions to tackle the rising prison population, including maximising the estate, increased investment in community justice, with a total of £159 million this year to strengthen alternatives to custody.

“Whilst prison will always be needed, we need to have sustainable solutions to the prison population and address why Scotland, along with England and Wales, is a complete outlier in comparison with other European countries in terms of our high prison population.”