First look inside £85m women-only jail HMP Stirling built without bars on its windows and cells

HMP Stirling
HMP Stirling has been built without bars on its windows and cells

Scotland’s new £85m women’s prison is set to open this summer.

HMP Stirling will house around 100 inmates and has been designed with a trauma-informed approach – which takes account of gender – to better help rehabilitate those remanded.

The jail, which is more than two years late, has been built without bars on its windows and cells.

It will also be a young offenders institute, and includes areas to assist women needing more intensive mental health support.

A general view of the Visits Room as Justice Secretary Angela Constance visited the new HMP and YOI Stirling. The newly constructed national facility for women, which replaces HMP & YOI Cornton Vale, is set to open this summer and is an important milestone in the continuing redesign of the female prison estate. Picture date: Thursday May 25,
The visit room within the facility
A general view the Health Centre as Justice Secretary Angela Constance visits the new HMP and YOI Stirling. The newly constructed national facility for women, which replaces HMP & YOI Cornton Vale, is set to open this summer and is an important milestone in the continuing redesign of the female prison estate. Picture date: Thursday May 25, 2023.
The prison will replace Cornton Vale

 

In addition, it has a separation and re-integration unit, a progression unit, a mother and baby unit, and an assessment centre.

There are also smaller accommodation areas, which the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said there is evidence to support they are more effective in achieving better outcomes for women.

A general view of HMP and YOI Stirling as Justice Secretary Angela Constance visited the new HMP and YOI Stirling. The newly constructed national facility for women, which replaces HMP & YOI Cornton Vale, is set to open this summer and is an important milestone in the continuing redesign of the female prison estate. Picture date: Thursday May 25, 2023.
The prison will house around 100 inmates
A general view of a football pitch during a visit by Justice Secretary Angela Constance to the new HMP and YOI Stirling. The newly constructed national facility for women, which replaces HMP & YOI Cornton Vale, is set to open this summer and is an important milestone in the continuing redesign of the female prison estate.
A football pitch at the facility

 

During a visit to the facility on Thursday, Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “This is a world-class facility that will provide world-leading care to women who are sentenced to custody.

“It has all the right services and the right environment and the right equipment to do better by women to improve their prospects of rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.”

The jail cost £85.7m to build – an increase from its initial £74m budget.

The facility was also originally planned to be operational by the end of 2020.

A general view inside a room within Iris House during a visit by Justice Secretary Angela Constance to the new HMP and YOI Stirling. The newly constructed national facility for women, which replaces HMP & YOI Cornton Vale, is set to open this summer and is an important milestone in the continuing redesign of the female prison estate. Picture date: Thursday May 25, 2023.A room within the Iris House unit
A general view inside a room within Iris House during a visit by Justice Secretary Angela Constance to the new HMP and YOI Stirling. The newly constructed national facility for women, which replaces HMP & YOI Cornton Vale, is set to open this summer and is an important milestone in the continuing redesign of the female prison estate. Picture date: Thursday May 25, 2023.
A room within the Iris House unit

 

Allister Purdie, SPS director of operations, explained that the prison was under construction when the pandemic struck in 2020, which caused delays as well as increases to the cost of materials.

By late summer the facility will be around half its capacity.

Mr Purdie added: “Then we’ll start to filter in people from the courts and other establishments.

“And that’s really because some of the women have really difficult and complex needs. We just can’t fill them up in huge numbers.”

HMP Stirling will replace Cornton Vale as the sole women-only prison in Scotland.

Some female inmates are also held at HMP Edinburgh, HMP Greenock, and HMP Grampian.

Smaller Community Custody Units – which are also designed to recognise the needs of remanded women – have already opened in Dundee and Glasgow.

Cornton Vale came under the spotlight earlier this year when transgender double rapist Isla Bryson was initially remanded there following their conviction.

Bryson, who raped two women when known as Adam Graham, was later transferred to the male estate after a public outcry which sparked an urgent case review.

Concerns have also been recently raised over the case of Andrew Miller, also known as Amy George, who admitted abducting a schoolgirl while dressed as a woman before sexually assaulting her.

Miller, who is yet to be sentenced, is currently being held in the male prison estate.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance during a visit to the new HMP and YOI Stirling. The newly constructed national facility for women, which replaces HMP & YOI Cornton Vale, is set to open this summer and is an important milestone in the continuing redesign of the female prison estate. Picture date: Thursday May 25, 2023.
Justice Secretary Angela Constance during visit to the prison

 

Until the wider SPS Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment (GIGR) Policy Review is complete, any transgender person in custody who has a history of violence against women – including sexual offences – will not be relocated from the male to female estate.

Additionally, newly convicted or remanded transgender prisoners will be placed in an establishment which aligns with their gender at birth.

Justice Secretary Ms Constance said: “That means that no transgender prisoner with a history of violence or sexual offending against women can be placed in the women’s estate.

“We will always continue to review safeguards because the Scottish Prison Service has a responsibility to the safety and wellbeing of all prisoners, including their staff.”

Source:  Sky News news.sky.com

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