Seòmar agus comataidhean

In essence, there is no other—

You mentioned that the regime at Greenock is really well thought of among the staff and the prisoners. Do they try to share that practice with the rest of the prisons?

I also get that impression when I visit Kilmarnock prison. There are 500 or so prisoners there, but I get the sense from working closely with the director and the staff that there is a good regime. The prison is well managed and there are good relationships.

Convener, did we agree that you would ask about the demographics? I could do that, if you want.

Thanks so much for your responses to those questions.

Thank you for answering that question. I had not intended to ask it, but we were led in that direction from the earlier conversation, and it is quite important.

Let us turn to Barlinnie, which the 2018-19 audit identified as presenting the

“biggest risk of failure in the prison system”.

In the inspection report that we are discussing today, you talk about “surge capacity” and so on. For the benefit of committee members and, perhaps, the public, will you briefly explain what we mean by surge capacity and why Barlinnie is in the frame when we talk about that?

Yes, I know it well. I am very familiar with it.

There is really no option; if we have such a situation, it has to be Barlinnie that takes on the extra demand, because of its size and design, presumably. It has the space, but it is perhaps in the poorest condition of all our prisons.

In 2020, the Government told our predecessor committee that the Prison Service has

“robust contingency plans in place”

to deal with

“a loss of critical infrastructure or ... an incident”.

Are those robust contingency plans still in place and, if so, are they fit for purpose?

In 2019, you told our predecessor committee—it was probably in answer to a question from me—that it would take five or six years before Barlinnie would be replaced, but we are still not there.

When a person gets sentenced to be imprisoned, does the system look at that person’s needs initially before it is decided where they should go, if they have particular health requirements and so on?