HC Deb 06 April 1984 vol 57 c686W
Mr. McTaggart

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list (a) the local prisons, closed training prisons and open training prisons run by his Department, (b) the total cell accommodation in each prison, (c) the numbers of prisoners in each prison at the latest available date, (d) the optimum number of prisoners recommended by his Department for each prison and (e) the year in which each prison first came into service.

Mr. Ancram

The information requested is as follows:

(a) (b) Total cell accommodation* (c) Number of prisoners on 27 March 1984 (e) Year of opening
Local prisons
Aberdeen 170 181 1,891
Barlinnie 943 1,255 1,886
Dumfries† 25 30 1,883
Inverness 88 95 1,903
Closed training persons
Cornton Vale (female) 123 87 1,975
Edinburgh‡ 529 670 1,925
Perth‡ 532 495 1,859
Open prison
Penninghame║ 74 72 1,954

Notes:

*Includes dormitory accommodation

†Dumfries holds only untried local prisoners.

‡Ediburgh and Perth are mainly training prisons but also serve as local prisons.

║Penninghame is the only open prison in Scotland but is not classified as a training prison.

It is not possible to stipulate an optimum number of prisoners. The figure in column(b) is the number which ideally should not be exceeded.