Saughton prison 'wholly unprepared' for women

SAUGHTON prison is "wholly unprepared" to deal with the influx of more than 100 female prisoners for the first time next month, Scotland's former chief prison inspector has warned.

Around 115 women inmates will arrive at HMP Edinburgh from Cornton Vale in July in an attempt to ease chronic overcrowding in Scotland's sole female-only jail.

The move follows the publication of a damning report by Chief Inspector of Prisons, Bridagier Hugh Monro, yesterday that labelled the Stirlingshire jail an "unacceptably poor establishment".

However, Clive Fairweather, a previous chief prison inspector, told the Evening News that female inmates could be worse off than they are currently.

He said: "There is a huge concern over the arrival of women at Saughton. Saughton is having this forced on them and it is wholly unprepared.

"You have to completely redesign the health centre to deal with all of the difficulties that come with a completely different gender."

He said there was also a significant level of training needed to prepare staff for dealing with both male and female inmates.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has already admitted that only a small number of staff from Cornton Vale will accompany the inmates on the move.

Mr Fairweather said: "A move like this needs huge training. You can't just take a guy that's looked after male prisoners for years and tell him to be a bit more fluffy. It takes more than that.

"Women are discriminated against everywhere in the prison system. It's almost impossible to find appropriate work for them for example. The rest are difficulties which the SPS haS to work through."

His comments came as it emerged the entire Ratho Hall wing, containing more than 100 male prisoners, will be moved to HMP Addiewell and the maximum security HMP Shotts to make way for the female prisoners' arrival next month.

Andy Hogg, assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers Association Scotland, warned: "This brings challenges, there is the practical difficulties of separating the regime.

"There have to be female staff there to deal with the prisoners, but whether they will be there in sufficient numbers I don't know."

An SPS spokesman said: "We are now decanting women from Cornton Vale to Edinburgh to relieve the pressure on Cornton Vale, but also to offer to the women who are going to Edinburgh a better regime.

"The system at Edinburgh is used to a male population and it will be a challenge, but we're sharing experience and expertise from other establishment.

"There might be some staff from Cornton Vale but there won't be vast numbers.

"This is not ideal but it's the best situation at the moment."