Scottish prisons aren’t all inspected the way prisons in England & Wales are. HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) still carries out full inspections at some establishments, rating performance against nine Standards (from Good down to Unacceptable), but for most prisons it now monitors continuously through the year instead, using local volunteer Independent Prison Monitors (IPMs) who report their findings annually rather than through a single inspection visit.
HMIPS’s most recent monitoring report for HMP Inverness covers 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, based on more than 52 visits and 157 IPM hours. Monitors found HMP Inverness “a well-run prison, despite the complexities involved in having to run several different regimes for a very mixed prisoner population”, with staff-prisoner relationships “consistently observed to be excellent” and the Recovery Wing singled out as “an excellent facility”.
More than half of cells designed for single occupancy were, at times, holding two prisoners – a concern monitors raised directly – and some overpopulation issues were starting to be reported by staff around January 2025. Monitors were also concerned about a prisoner held in segregation under Rule 41 (on medical grounds) for several weeks who they felt should have been in a secure psychiatric facility, and heard of continuing problems with GeoAmey missing scheduled hospital appointments, including one chemotherapy session. The prison’s Early Release Programme was found well-planned, though some prisoners felt it had been handled with too much secrecy.
To read the full report, go to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland website or follow the link below:
- IPM Annual Monitoring Report (PDF), HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland, covering 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025