Cornton Vale (HM Prison)

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Cornton Vale is a women's prison in Stirling. Built in 1975, Cornton Vale comprises a total of 217 cells in its 5 houses. It became an all-woman prison in 1978 under governor Lady Martha Bruce, and now houses almost all female adults and young offenders in Scotland. In April 1999, the separation of adults and young offenders was attained. And in the last 2 years, a systematic renovation and upgrading of all 5 houses has been carried out.

It is Scotland's only all-female establishment and so nearly all female prisoners and young offenders in Scotland are housed here. The complex provides 230 places for women prisoners in five blocks. Four of these blocks (or houses) have 178 places and are sub-divided into six or seven-room units each with its own dining/sitting room, and almost all have a common kitchen or servery. One of these blocks is containing 27 places is currently being renovated to provide a dedicated Young Offender facility. Prisoners have access at night to sanitary facilities.

It has has been criticised for overcrowding, with 353 inmates being held there in November 2005 and the high number of suicides which have taken place there. Eleven women killed themselves while serving sentences at Corton Vale between 1997 and 2002, while the major problem at the prison was considered to be "a cult of lesbianism".[1]

In 2006, 98% of the inmates had addiction issues; 80% had problems with mental health and 75% were survivors of abuse. It also holds children, in particular the babies of inmates who are imprisoned alongside their mothers and teenagers where there is no suitable accommodation available in young offenders institutions.[2]

In 2006 it was announced that the practice of "double cuffing" all inmates who are in labour to a custody officer until second stage labour and immediately re-handcuffed after giving birth, had ended. [3]

[edit] Descriptions of Cornton Vale

the near bedlam conditions found in some areas such as the remand block. Comparisons with a Romanian orphanage sprang to my mind as I listened to desperate groups of frail and bewildered women.

Clive Fairweather Inspector of Prisons (1994-2002) describing the conditions in 1994

Girls are daily sent to punishment and are sent to the suicide cells only for reasons as starting to cry in front of an officer or being too noisy. Some are punished for being violent or for self-harming in an attempt to get attention or in an attempt to cry for help. Some gets psychological help after several times of punishment ranging from being locked up during the daytime or being locked up in their recreation time for several days to being kept in the suicide cells.

Ulla Roder, Trident Ploughshares activist, describing the conditions in 2001

I watched tiny, pinched women who looked like children suffering in agony - knowing that, even if they manage to stay clean in Cornton Vale, they'll be going back to homeless hostels awash with heroin.

Rosie Kane MSP describing the conditions in 2006