Scots prisons crisis with over-occupied cells and riot threats amid lack of staff

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The crisis in Scotland’s prison service is worsening with an increase in riot-style incidents, a lack of staff and too many inmates.The Sunday Mail can disclose that Kilmarnock and Glenochil both have major overcrowding issues.Relatives of prisoners also claim there are long delays with access to support for substance addiction while others have complained about poor quality food.And a prison officers union has warned there is not enough staff to cope with the demand of inmates with mental health issues and called for investment.At HMP Kilmarnock, staff have faced a dramatic rise in prisoner numbers and increased incidents requir-ing the use of riot shields since it was taken into public ownership.The prison holds 628 inmates, 25 per cent above its design capacity of 501, with 35 arriving since the transition to Scottish Prison Service management, a six per cent rise in ten weeks.Staff who previously worked for Serco, which ran the jail with few hitches until the end of a 25-year contract in March, are braced for more prisoners to arrive.They warn that 18 additional recruits brought in by the SPS are not enough to cope with the rising numbers especially as the loss of body cam-eras used by Serco had left them more vulnerable.One officer said: “In the past three or four years, I’ve seen two inciden-ts involving staff kitted out, break-ing up trouble with full kit – body armour and riot shields.“On 29 April, there were two full-kit interventions with prisoners.“I’ve been told there have been at least two more since that I did not witness, and there have also been two incidents involving a prisoner threatening to throw himself over a top landing railing."Sources at HMP Glenochil, near Alloa, told the Sunday Mail prisoners