Seven under-18s currently detained at Polmont YOI

There are still seven children under the age of 18 in Polmont prison and young offenders institution, Justice Secretary Angela Constance has revealed.

She insisted prison is “no place for children” and said intensive work is under way so they can be moved elsewhere.

She was speaking in the wake of the death of Jonathan Beadle, 17, in Polmont – which is the only prison in Scotland to house young males aged between 16 and 21.

Ms Constance expressed her condolences to his family, saying while “losing a child is always extremely difficult and heartbreaking”, there is “an additional trauma and tragedy when a child is lost when they are within the care of the state”.

He was being kept in Polmont – a combined prison and young offenders institution near Falkirk – despite MSPs having recently passed legislation which prevents under-18s from being sent to such facilities.

The Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act, which was enacted in June, sets out that 16 and 17-year-olds should be placed in secure accommodation rather than a young offenders institution.

Ms Constance told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Thursday: “I agree prison is no place for children.”

She said “care-based alternatives”, either in the community or involving a “deprivation of liberty” in secure accommodation, are “far preferable in terms of the care and treatment of our children”.

Such alternatives provide more support and education for children, Ms Constance added, which helps “ensure they can be reintegrated to society when that is appropriate”.

With the legislation now passed, she said ministers are “working at pace” to ensure the measures come in “as soon as it is safely possible”.

She said as of Monday, there were seven under-18s in Polmont, and they will be moved “no later than the week beginning September 2”.

She added: “There is intensive engagement and work between the Scottish Prison Service and also the providers of secure accommodation that will enable that early and orderly transfer of those children currently in Polmont.”

The facility has come under the spotlight following a number of deaths of young people in its care.

The findings of fatal accident inquiries into the deaths of three people at Polmont are currently awaited. William Lindsay, 16, and Katie Allan, 21, both ended their own lives there in 2018, while Jack McKenzie, 20, was reported to have died by suicide in September 2021.