Cornton Vale women’s prison and young offenders institution is to close early in the new year.
The Scottish Prison Service announced this week that the doors will close in early 2023 before HMP & YOI Stirling, which is being built on the same site, will open in the summer.
Dealing with women with mental health problems has traditionally been a major issue at the prison.
Drug and alcohol abuse is often seen in women being admitted to the jail, however, past studies have found that there is also a high incidence of women who have experienced physical, mental and sexual abuse at some point in their lives, or have underlying mental health conditions.
Scotland’s women’s jail – once overcrowded with around 400 inmates – is going through a transformation as part of a wider revamp of the Scottish prison system.
A review researched elements from across the world including Scandinavia, New Zealand and Canada to create a new approach unique to Scotland.
The replacement facility between Cornton and Bridge of Allan will house 80 prisoners with “acute” needs in a more therapeutic environment.
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A 20-place assessment centre will also help decide where women coming into custody will be located within the prison estate – including community custody units in places like Edinburgh and Dundee.
The announcement this week is said to be an important landmark in the progress towards a new and modern national facility for women in custody.
The Stirling facility will be the third new, purpose-built facility for women in custody in Scotland, following the opening of the Bella and Lilias Community Custody Units (CCUs) this year.
The CCUs are the first of their kind anywhere in the UK, and follow an approach set out in the Strategy for Women in Custody.
The strategy is founded on the principle that services for women in custody should be designed especially for the needs of women, and also take account of their likely experience of adversity and trauma.
The SPS said the new HMP & YOI Stirling will have this approach at its heart. It will also be smaller, more modern, and with better facilities than HMP & YOI Cornton Vale, which was built in 1975.
It is an important milestone in the SPS’s efforts to meet the challenges set by Lady Elish Angiolini, in her Commission on Women Offenders report, which also paved the way for the CCUs.
The remaining women still living at HMP & YOI Cornton Vale will be supported to move out in January and February next year, and temporarily placed in other establishments, allowing work on the new facility to move apace.
An SPS spokesperson said this was “standard practice” when closing one prison and building another, and has been done successfully in the past.
They added that the SPS has also carried out detailed planning to “minimise disruption, support the women in its care, and work to ensure all their needs continue to be met”.
Teresa Medhurst, chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, said: “I am delighted that, with the support of the Scottish Government and the hard work of staff and partners, we have reached this exciting moment.
“This facility, along with our CCUs, will help give women in our care the best possible chance of a successful rehabilitation and safe, eventual, return to our communities.
“There is a lot of hard work ahead, but we are determined to deliver for those in our care, for the communities we serve, and for wider Scotland.”
Keith Brown, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans, said: “The Scottish Government is committed to a modern and fit-for-purpose prison estate with a focus on rehabilitation.
“As such, we have been working with the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to transform our approach to women in custody, as part of a wider £600 million plan to improve Scotland’s custodial estate.
“I am pleased that SPS are now reaching this significant milestone.
“The new national facility for women, HMP & YOI Stirling, is a purpose-built facility for women in custody, designed especially for the needs of women and it takes account of their likely experience of adversity and trauma.”
