A north-east MSP has demanded answers about why the young offenders wing of a flagship super-jail remains empty.
HMP Grampian in Peterhead was built to be the nation’s first community-facing prison housing male, female and youth inmates on one site.
But after a disturbance and 14-hour and stand-off with police and warders shortly after the facility opened in March 2014, all young offenders were relocated to the central belt.
Now Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald has urged HMP Grampian governor Allister Purdie to explain what is being done to bring the offenders back to the Ellon youth wing at the jail – the most modern in Scotland.
Mr Macdonald said: “The new governor at HMP Grampian was closely involved in the design of the new Peterhead prison, so I am sure it is a particular disappointment to him that two years after young offenders were first moved to Polmont they have still not been returned to the north-east.
Mr Macdonald said contact between families and offenders was “vital” for successful rehabilitation and this was being undermined by moving young people from the north-east to Polmont.
“The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) says that they don’t want to return north-east young offenders to HMP Grampian because the educational and support services on offer are not as good as those at Polmont.”
The issue of the empty Ellon wing was raised in the jail’s first inspection report earlier this month.
David Strang, chief inspector of prisons for Scotland, said: “At the time of this inspection, there were no male young offenders in Grampian, and one of the residential halls remained unoccupied.
“It is disappointing that some of the highest quality of prison estate in Scotland lies empty.”
After the report was published, Mr Purdie told the Press and Journal the “quality of the regime” at Polmont meant the young men were better off where they were for now, but that Grampian would start taking prisoners back when they were ready to be integrated into the local community.
Last night an SPS spokeswoman said no return date had been set.
“SPS wants to make sure that the regime and curriculum currently available at HM YOI Polmont can be replicated at HMP Grampian to ensure that the young men continue to receive the best care and opportunities available,” she said.
“Furthermore, the number of young male offenders has significantly dropped across the SPS estate.”