OVERCROWDED JAILS ON BRINK

Staff doing 'remarkable' job but pressure is building

- KATRINE BUSSEY

SCOTLAND'S overcrowded jails are "simmering on the brink of a crisis", the head of the Scottish Prison Service has warned.

Teresa Medhurst said staff are dealing with a “near record prison population” and “severe overcrowding” despite an early release scheme put in place by the Scottish Government.

The SPS chief executive also said prison staff have to deal with a “myriad of challenges around serious and organised crime, illicit substances, mental health and trauma”.

While she said the work prison staff do is “truly remarkable”, Medhurst was frank about the situation in Scotland's jails.

She said: “Let me be clear - our prisons are simmering on the brink of a crisis that threatens to overwhelm us and the communities we work so hard to protect.”