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 carried out an inspection of HMP & YOI Polmont on 4–6 August 2025, specifically to follow up recommendations from the Fatal Accident Inquiry into the deaths of William Lindsay (also known as Brown) and Katie Allan, published jointly with Healthcare Improvement Scotland in March 2026. Inspectors found the mandatory 72-hour “Talk to Me” admission protocol, introduced after those deaths, was “operating effectively”, and staff awareness of the “Think Twice” anti-bullying strategy was better than at other recently inspected establishments.
Concerns remained, however: routine mental health waiting times exceeded targets, and named nurses could not consistently be allocated to young people who needed them. Some young men in Monro Hall had limited time out of their cells, which inspectors said “represents a risk to health, motivation, and social development”. The prison still lacks a dedicated care suite for young people in acute distress, and its safer cells were found inadequate.
To read the full report, go to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland website or follow the link below:
- Inspection news release (PDF), HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland, visit of 4–6 August 2025, published March 2026