Jails are too full and may be approaching a ‘tipping point’, warns prisons boss

Teresa Medhurst said emergency powers could be needed to release inmates early

The head of the Scottish Prison Service has warned that jails are too full and the system may be approaching a “tipping point”.

Teresa Medhurst told a BBC documentary, which is due to air tonight, that emergency powers could be needed to release inmates early.

She said if numbers continue to rise it will only be a few months before action needs to be taken, and "all options would need to be on the table".

Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

There are currently about 8,000 behind bars in Scotland but that is projected to rise to 8,700 this year.

Ms Medhurst told the programme that if the numbers go above 8,500 then the Scottish Government would have to consider releasing hundreds of prisoners with no restrictions placed on them like it did during Covid.

She said: "If I have to say enough is enough then it is because we are at a tipping point. We cannot take any more. Prisons become very unsafe. The atmosphere, the tension, the volatility increases. Levels of violence increase, levels of self-harm increase."

The prison chief said Police Scotland is looking at how it can divert people away from court, while efforts are being made to tackle the backlog of prisoners on remand. Prisons are also looking to double the number of inmates released early on electronic tags to reduce numbers.

Elsewhere, pre-fab housing blocks are being considered to increase capacity.

The number of people in prison awaiting trial in Scotland has increased to record levels and almost a quarter of inmates have not been convicted. This is one of the reasons the overall population is rising.

Ms Medhurst said: "At the moment I'm confident that we can manage between now and the springtime." However, she said projections for March-April made her "less comfortable" the service could cope.

The new documentary – Disclosure: Prisons on the Brink – was given unprecedented access to film in HMP Perth, Scotland’s oldest jail, for five days.

Sarah Armstrong, professor of Criminology at the University of Glasgow, said: "I do feel like the state of the prison system right now at this moment is not safe. Over the last three years there have been suicides in every single prison within Scotland, every single one. That's unusual. I mean, that is not something to be proud of."

Figures obtained by BBC Disclosure show self-harm in Scottish prisons is up by almost 40 per cent in the past year – from 587 incidents to 818. Ms Medhurst said that is because of growing tensions as a result of overcrowding.

Andy Hodge, the governor at Perth, said: "The pressure of population is forcing us to put more people into one room. That's a real stretch. Two adult men into a room where you've got one TV, one kettle, tensions start to build, people start to fall out. Violence amongst the residents starts to go up."

He said there is contingency planning which could see the Scottish Government beginning an early release scheme if the numbers get too high.

SNP justice secretary Angela Constance said ministers are looking at new legislation, contingency measures and investing in community sentences to try to reduce the prison population.

She told the BBC: "I would very much accept that as a consequence of a rising prison population, that that has an impact on progression, it has an impact on rehabilitation. And that is why addressing a rising prison population is also a matter of community safety."