Prison service needs additional £40m to run adequately, MSPs told

An additional £40 million will be needed from the Scottish Budget for the Scottish Prison Service to run adequately, its chief executive has said.

Speaking to Holyrood’s Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday as part of its pre-Budget scrutiny, Teresa Medhurst said she will not be able to run the organisation next year without further funding.

She said: “We have highlighted to the Scottish Government that we will require investment. But I think overall from my position, because of that increased complexity of the population and requirement for more focus on that pathway work with individuals in custody, around rehabilitation and return to community, I do think that it will require more investment, not just next year, but in future years.”

She warned those are “as-yet-uncosted pressures on us”, and added: “If we are unsuccessful, then I won’t have enough money to run the organisation next year. At some point the funding will run out.”

Ms Medhurst said the SPS requires an additional £40 million and she could not rule out the need for further funding throughout the year depending on the increase in the prison population.

She said: “We’ve done some high level costing for the organisation and as it stands at the moment, we think that we would require an additional £40 million.

“However, what I would caveat that by is saying is that we did require additional in-year funding this year and I wouldn’t discount the fact that we may require that again next year, depending on how the population shifts and changes because that is currently the greatest driver, I think, in all of the work we’re doing.”

Statistics released by the Scottish Government at the beginning of November showed the average daily population in 2024-25 was 8,213, up from 7,856 the previous year and above the previous record of 8,198 in 2019-20.

The figure is the largest since records began in 1970, when the prison population stood at 5,003.

The number of inmates in Scotland’s already-stretched prisons continued to grow this year, reaching a new daily record of 8,441 earlier this month.

To combat overcrowding, the Scottish Government has initiated three early release schemes, with one having taken place on November 11 – the same day the record population figure was hit.

A total of 139 prisoners were released in the first of four tranches to take place into the early part of next year.

The prison population increase was driven by a 5.8% rise in the sentenced population, according to the figures, with a 14% (1,614) jump in sexual crimes and 2% (2,848) in violent crimes.

Ms Medhurst said given the current over population pressures, the SPS cannot cut back on any measures to save costs.

She said: “There is nowhere that I can see that we can cut back, particularly not given the population pressures.

“We are doing everything we can to maximise the amount of space, to provide support, to make changes in the operating day to ensure that we have staff on shift at times when we require it in order to be able to maximise time out of cell and give people access to services and rehabilitation programs.

“At the moment there is nowhere that I can see that I can make change, affect change or reform in a way that would ensure that we have sufficient funding for next year if we are unsuccessful.”