Prison boss says he would 'struggle' to survive inside jail due for £1 billion replacement

The governor of Scotland’s largest prison has claimed the overcrowding is like a “pressure cooker”, as new laws to release hundreds of inmates early comes into force.

Michael Stoney, governor of HMP Barlinnie, said he would “struggle” to survive inside his own overcrowded prison.

This comes as the Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Act 2025 comes into effect, which will see almost 400 short-term prisoners released after just 40 per cent of their sentences over the next six weeks.

Hundreds of prisoners are to be released early to ease overcrowding.

Speaking to the BBC Scotcast podcast, Mr Stoney said: “Barlinnie is sitting in the 1,380s just now [population wise] and the likelihood is it would go up without releasing the pressure valves.

“Population increase makes prison life more difficult for everyone, those that live there, those that work there. It is like a pressure cooker, and the more you put the pressure on, the more likely there is for negative outcomes.

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“There’s a danger in the infrastructure that the prison could fail quite significantly - power, water heating, any of these things can fail. There have been times we’ve been a day away from not having any power or heating.”

Mr Stoney added: “If it [Barlinnie] were to fail, there’s no space anywhere else for overcrowding. That’s why you’re seeing early release and other things that compensate for that.”

HMP Barlinnie. | Andrew Milligan/Press Association.

Barlinnie is operating at 140 per cent capacity. There are nearly 1,400 inmates when the Victorian prison was designed for just 987.

HMP Barlinnie is due to be replaced by a new prison called HMP Glasgow, which is expected to open in 2028. Last week it was revealed the cost of the new prison had risen to almost £1 billion.

Mr Stoney said two years ago HMP Barlinnie was so overcrowded there could have been a catastrophic failure at any time, and he would struggle to live there as an inmate.

He said: “If you’re putting someone behind that door for a long period of time, it’s a struggle. So even if you’re locked in the nicest hotel, if you can’t go out, because no-one’s allowing you to go out, it becomes a difficult space.

“Any time you’re not in control of your own destiny, or master of these decisions, it’s a difficult place to be - and that’s regardless of all the other problems in Barlinnie.”

The latest figures suggest there are 8,223 people in Scotland’s prisons, which is above the target capacity of 8,007.

Around 390 short-term prisoners are due to be released after just 40 per cent of their sentence over the next six weeks to help ease the overcrowding issues. This applies to those serving sentences of less than four years, but excludes those sentenced for domestic abuse, sexual offences or terrorism charges.

Back in November the Scottish Parliament passed an emergency Bill to release these prisoners. The Bill passed by 67 votes to 54 after the SNP managed to secure the support of the Scottish Greens, but the Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems all voted against the proposals.

Last summer 477 inmates were released early to ease overcrowding, but 12 per cent of those reoffended and were back behind bars within weeks.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance. | Press Association.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said early release was not a “complete solution”. But she insisted it would help keep prisons “safe places for the dedicated staff to carry out the important work of rehabilitation to reduce reoffending”.

The Scottish Government expects the change will reduce the prison population by around 5 per cent. As of October last year, more than 3,100 prisoners were released early in England and Wales due to similar issues.

The first phase of these short-term prisoners to be released early will take place next week between February 18 and 20. A second phase will happen between March 4 and 6 and a third from March 18 to 20.

Phil Fairlie, assistant secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association, said: “These comments from the governor at Barlinnie reflect what we have been saying for years and what our members experience every single day.

“Mick Stoney is an experienced senior governor who has managed Barlinnie for many years, so we should all take heed when he expresses these concerns.

“Scotland’s prisons are chronically overcrowded which, in turn causes frustration, anxiety and stress for prisoners, raising the temperature in the jail leaving our members with not enough staff to try and maintain order and operate a safe, functioning establishment.

“All of this combined with prisoners who have more and more complex needs and rising incidents of self-harm and violence is having a huge impact on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of our members."