By Bill Heaney
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur, right, has called on the Scottish Government to drive down the use of remand as new figures revealed that the cost of a prison place has risen by more than £10,000 per year since 2017.
A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request to the Scottish Prison Service has revealed that the average cost per prisoner place in 2023/24 was £47,140 or £129.15 per day, up from £37,334 or £102.28 per day in 2016/17.
The average daily prison population in Scotland was 7,860 in 2023/24. This is an increase of almost 6% from 2022/23. The overall average daily remand population remained stable in 2023/24 at 1,796, 23% of the total.
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said: “Scotland’s prisons are not serving prisoners, prison staff or the wider community well. Far too many prisoners are on remand, violent assaults are commonplace and cells are bursting at the seams.
“We know that remand is severely disruptive to employment and the type of family links that are so important if we are to break the cycle of reoffending.
“These figures also show that it’s incredibly expensive too.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats want see a properly-funded justice system that can deliver robust and credible community sentences where appropriate.
Bet this leads to Barlinnie inmates being nicknamed “billionaires”.
“We also need a modern prison estate that can strike a balance between punishing, rehabilitating and supporting; that is how we will reduce reoffending and make communities safer.”
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Scottish Daily Express reported: “
The Scottish Government has been accused of overseeing another “scandalous” capital project after admitting that the replacement for Barlinnie will cost £1BILLIONJ almost 10 TIMES the initial estimate. The construction of the new HMP Glasgow has been beset with delays and issues.
It will eventually replace the Victorian-era Barlinnie which has become one of Scotland’s most notorious prisons and is often overcrowded. The infrastructure failures overseen by the SNP has been blamed for the crisis in jails which has led to dangerous prisoners being let out early.
Labour’s Justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill’s, left, reaction: “The cost has rocketed from £400 million to £998.4 million. This eye-watering increase is a symbol of the SNP government’s record of chaos, mismanagement and waste. This cost to the public purse is exacerbated by the two-year delay.
“Our Victorian prison estate is crumbling on the SNP’s watch and hundreds of prisoners are being set free to deal with overcrowding.
“We desperately need to modernise and replace our prisons and work within prisons to reduce re-offending.
“The SNP must urgently explain why costs have spiralled out of control and pledge that there will be no more delays to this much-needed new prison.”
The Scottish Conservatives have demanded the SNP cut the “outrageous” cost of building a new Barlinnie after it was revealed the bill has risen to nearly a billion pounds.
Meanwhile, at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, leader Russell Findlay, right, said the SNP were “squandering” more on the new prison than they spent on Scotland’s flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Findlay said “taxpayers want every pound to be spent on the best possible schools and hospitals, not the best possible prisons.”
He added that the SNP should ditch “nonsense” proposals for the prison, such as landscaped gardens, boxes for bats and special bricks for birds.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “The new Barlinnie is going to cost a billion, but the SNP seem to think it’s a bargain.
“John Swinney should be building a high-security prison, not a luxury resort or nature reserve.
“The SNP expect hard-working Scottish taxpayers to pay for nonsense like boxes for bats and special bricks to house birds.
“Taxpayers want every pound to be spent on the best possible schools and hospitals, not the best possible prisons.
“John Swinney is squandering more on a five-star prison than the SNP spent on Scotland’s flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
“The SNP will release thousands of criminals early purely because they failed to build prisons on time and within budget.
“This illustrates how detached the Holyrood bubble has become from the real world. It’s why so many people are disillusioned with politics.
“The John Swinney government is neglecting what really matters to people.
“As a matter of urgency, John Swinney must commit to cutting these outrageous costs.
Top of page: Prison officers giving lessons to help prisoners quit drug-taking.