Scotland organises its prisons quite differently from England & Wales’s Category A–D system.
Supervision levels. Under the Scottish Prison Rules (Supervision Levels) Direction 2011, each prisoner is assessed and given a supervision level that reflects the risk they present. This is what determines the conditions they’re held under.
Closed and open conditions. Most prisoners start out in closed conditions – this makes up most of the prison estate. As a sentence goes on and risk reduces, some prisoners may move to open conditions – such as HMP Castle Huntly – which come with more freedom and a focus on getting ready for release.
National and local prisons. There are national facilities, which hold prisoners from anywhere in Scotland (often people serving longer sentences, or assessed as higher-risk), and local prisons, which mainly serve their own court area and hold people on remand or serving shorter sentences.
Women and young people. Scotland’s national prison for women is HMP & YOI Stirling, which opened in 2023, alongside two smaller Community Custody Units that help women stay closer to home. Young people are generally kept separate from the main adult population, in their own dedicated units.