Scotland's prisons are on the brink of an overwhelming crisis – Scottish Prison Service chief executive
Experienced prison officers are walking away from a job they once loved because of burnout, leaving newer staff with ‘too much to do and too little support’
Today is Hidden Heroes Day, a day to pay tribute to our hardworking prison staff. They are heroes who every day enter environments that can be complex, challenging, and even violent.
They do this to keep our communities safe and support those in our care, and their families back home, to try and ensure there are fewer victims in future. They have always been heroes in my eyes – I have worked alongside and led them for more than 30 years – but never more so than now.
With a near-record prison population, severe overcrowding, and a myriad of challenges around serious and organised crime, illicit substances, mental health, and trauma, the work they do is truly remarkable.
Let me be clear. Our prisons are simmering on the brink of a crisis that threatens to overwhelm us and the communities we work so hard to protect. The risks and strain our staff have been asked to carry for almost two years now, as the population has grown way beyond the level prisons were built to hold, means we are asking too much.
The human cost to prison officers
In its recent report, Breaking Point, the Prison Officers Association Scotland said this about overcrowding: “This isn’t just a numbers game. It’s a human cost. It’s our members being run ragged on every shift. The overcrowding has led to increased prisoner tensions, resulting in increased risk of violence.
“It’s experienced colleagues walking away from the job they once loved because of absolute burnout, leaving newer staff with too much to do and too little support.”
I could not have put it better than our trade union partners do there. It is not just about numbers, about how many beds you can cram into a room, or how many mouths we can feed.
It’s about people and the unique relationships that exist between our staff and those in our care. We are unique, I believe, in working with people on a 24/7 basis. The people we care for live in our places of work. The cells and prisons are their homes and communities.
The danger of human warehouses
We are involved in their lives in a way that no other profession is. We see people at their lowest, we get to know them, their families, their past experiences, and their hopes for the future. Prisons thrive on relationships – relationships with partners, with colleagues, and from one prisoner to another.
It can take weeks, months, even years to build, but once established it can break down barriers, create hope where it was lost, and give a glimpse of a better future. All that follows – rehabilitation, recovery, vocational training, life skills – is built on that foundation of trust, respect, and understanding.
Sadly, it is what is lost when prisons come to resemble warehouses, stockpiling lives instead of having the opportunity to try and rebuild them. And it is not just important to us, our staff, and those in our care.
It leads to a situation in which people return to their communities – which the vast majority of prisoners do, sooner or later – with their issues unresolved and their risk of reoffending still high. Then, we all lose.
Heroic prison officers must be heard
The concept of Hidden Heroes began in 2020, and so now marks its sixth year. They are hidden because our prisons are, largely, out of sight. When an emergency vehicle passes in the street, with sirens blazing for all to see, it is a sharp reminder of the bravery of our police, fire, and ambulance services, racing to the scene. It will not be carrying our staff, although they too often must rush to a scene that others would rather flee from.
They are hidden from view. And so, I am grateful for a day when we can publicly pay tribute to them in this way. But that must not be all we do. Those tributes will be empty if we do not also stop and listen to what they are saying, and what the Prison Officers Association Scotland has set out so well.
Over the years, we have often talked about our pride in the resilience shown by our staff. We need to recognise the toll that requirement for resilience is taking, the need for people to be so strong for so long.
Sharp increase in long-term prisoners
I am grateful for the leadership and support we have received from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, and colleagues in the Scottish Government. Were it not for the emergency early release programme last year, and the Prisoners (Early Release) Scotland Act, which came into effect this year, our situation would be far worse.
Both of those actions led to the early release of some eligible short-term prisoners, that is those serving sentences of less than four years. Among those excluded were sex offenders and those with convictions related to domestic abuse.
People may question the success of those initiatives, given we now have a near-record population. However, our short-term prisoner population – those individuals affected – is roughly 100 below the level of two years ago.
Sadly, that benefit has been lost amid the sharp increase we have seen in long-term prisoners – those serving more than four years – which is now around 600 higher than it was two years ago.
That is a sign of our partners in Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service doing their job well, investigating crimes and securing convictions. What I now ask is for the right conditions for our staff to do their jobs well, so hopefully there are fewer crimes in the future.
Teresa Medhurst is chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service