Scotland’s prison population rises to record high

Scotland’s prison population has reached a record high.

The number of people in custody has been rising for many months and on Tuesday hit 8,430. That number surpasses the previous record of 8,420 set in 2012.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said it had reached a level that raises “very serious concerns” about keeping inmates safe.

The Scottish government said “immediate action” was now necessary to ensure that those who work and live in prisons are kept safe.

The prison population fluctuates daily but was consistently over 8,400 last week, according to the SPS.

This rise in numbers comes despite the early release of hundreds of inmates to free up space.

More than 300 people, half of whom were serving sentences for violent crimes, were freed in February and March after prison bosses warned they could not take any more arrivals.

In addition to the record numbers inside Scotland’s jails, the SPS said that more than 120 people on custodial sentences were being managed in the community through home detention curfews.

Scotland’s prisons were designed to hold 7,805 inmates, meaning they are now accommodating more than 600 additional people – enough to fill another prison the size of HMP & YOI Grampian or HMP Shotts.

The prison service said one of the key reasons for the surge had been the rise in people serving long-term sentences of four years or more.

The long-term population has risen to 4012, which is more than 600 higher than two years ago.

In contrast, the short-term population is roughly 130 lower than two years ago.

The Prisoners (Early Release) Scotland Act 2025 came into law earlier this year.

The act changed the point of release for all eligible short-term prisoners from 50% to 40% of their sentence.

That provided some relief for prisons in the face of overcrowding but populations have since continued to rise.

Teresa Medhurst, SPS chief executive, said further action was needed and staff had been “managing an extremely complex and far too high population for almost two years”.

She praised their skill and professionalism in the situation.

“However, we have now reached a new record high – an unfortunate landmark which none of us wanted to see,” she said.

“The level of overcrowding in our establishments was already restricting our staff’s ability to build relationships, support rehabilitation, reduce reoffending, and help to build safer communities across Scotland.

“Now it is reaching a level that raises very serious concerns around our ability to keep people safe and secure.”

A spokesman for the Scottish government said: “We recognise the serious challenges facing the prison system, which is why the justice secretary announced in parliament emergency proposals to tackle prison overcrowding, with stringent safeguards to protect public safety.

“Our paramount concern is to ensure that those who work and live in prisons are kept safe, so immediate action is now necessary.”

Opposition parties condemned the Scottish government’s management of prisons.

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr MSP blamed SNP ministers for the problems and called for an increase in prison capacity.

He said: “Their only ‘solution’ to overcrowding is the reckless early release of dangerous criminals, which has made our streets less safe and seen many of the same offenders washing straight back up in jail after reoffending.

“We warned ministers from the start that the early-release programme was a desperate, sticking-plaster idea that was doomed to fail, yet they plan several more rounds of it in the coming months as Scotland’s prisons burst at the seams.”

Scottish Labour’s Pauline McNeill MSP described the situation as “intolerable for prison officers and staff”.

“These unprecedented figures show the SNP’s sticking plaster solutions have failed to deal with the dangerous levels of overcrowding in Scotland’s prisons. It is utterly neglectful that the SNP failed to plan for changes to the prison population during their time in government,” she said.

“The crisis in our prisons has been years in the making but the SNP has failed to get to grips with the root causes,” she added.