1420 INMATES DOUBLE-UP IN SINGLE CELLS
26 Sunday Mail A total of 1420 inmates are being “doubled-up” in single cells in jails across Scotland.
Around one-in-eight of all the cells in the prison estate house more than one criminal.
The figures were revealed in a letter from Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf to Scottish Labour’s justice spokesman Daniel Johnson.
It states that on January 21, there were 5877 single cel ls, with 710 of them doubled-up.
It was revealed last month that a majority of the country’s prisons began the New Year at capacity or beyond.
Scotland’s biggest prison, Barlinnie in Glasgow, was operating at 139 per cent capacity in December, with HMP Inverness at 137 per cent.
Johnson said: “Scotland’s prisons are bursting at the seams as authorities struggle to cope amid a lack of resources from the SNP Government.
“We shouldn’t have Victorian-era prisons with overcrowded cells in 2019.
“Humza Yousaf must come to Parliament and outline what he wil l do to end this scandal.
“You cannot keep our communities and prisons safe on the cheap. That’s why in government, Labour will invest in our public services to end the scandal of doubled-up cells.”
We told last week how a £ 250million replacement for Barlinnie is set to be built near the gasworks in Provan in Glasgow’s east end.
A prison source said the new jai l was the “next priority” after two new women’s communi t y custody units in Glasgow and Dundee are complete.