Saughton Cell Block H: Female wing plan for city jail

WOMEN prisoners would be housed in a new wing at Saughton jail under plans to lock up offenders closer to their homes.

Saughton would be the first prison in Scotland to house women in a purpose-built wing.

The Scottish Government is looking to keep inmates closer to their communities so they can maintain stronger family ties and get better access to local support groups.

Only women serving shorter sentences would be sent to Saughton instead of the specialist women's prison at Cornton Vale, near Stirling.

The women would be housed in the 13 million Ratho House wing which is currently under construction. It will house 116 prisoners and should be ready by the end of the year.

The cells will reportedly be equipped with personal payphones and showers.

Plans to turn it into a women's wing would mark the start of Scottish Government plans to create more "community facing" prisons, where prisoners are detained within their own communities rather than segregated in terms of sex or types of offence.

A mixed-sex regime has already been trialled at Porterfield Prison in Inverness, where women were housed in an existing separate wing, but male overcrowding eventually forced all of the female inmates to Cornton Vale.

Cornton Vale governor Ian Gunn backed the proposals for more mixed-sex prisons when the idea was first proposed in June.

Mr Gunn added: "We have only got about 80 long-termers serving four years or more, and less than 20 lifers. We could have a viable population of long-termers and local people housed here and then other women housed in other prisons in Scotland."

The Scottish Prison Service said there were no plans to bring the most serious long-term female prisoners to Edinburgh. A spokesman said: "I can confirm that we have a project in place to look at the new accommodation at Ratho House in HMP Edinburgh to be used for female prisoners.

"But there are no plans for Cornton Vale's role as the specialist centre for female offenders to be changed."

However, women's rights pressure group the Women's National Commission expressed concerns.

Women's commissioner Juliet Lyle, who is also director of the Prisons Reform Trust and secretary of Penal Reform International, said: "Women in this new wing will be a small minority within the prison and the likelihood is that the regime won't be as good in terms of access to activities, recreation and education.

"It's not just about providing extra bed space, it's about providing the facilities to go with it."