Cornton Vale (HM Prison)
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Cornton Vale is a women's prison in Stirling, operated by the Scottish Prison Service. Built in 1975, Cornton Vale comprises a total of 217 cells in its 5 houses. It took only convicted women and girls from 1975 until 1978. In 1978 Parliament passed the necessary legislation to allow females to be held there on remand. Lady Martha Bruce was the first governor. Cornton Vale 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.
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[edit] Description
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.
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.[2]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Suicide jail chiefs 'more concerned over lesbianism'. Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
- ^ Cuffing prisoners in labour wrong’. The Herald. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
[edit] Further reading
Maguire, Maureen, Uncomfortably Numb. A Prison Requiem, (Luath Press, 2001) ISBN 1-84282-001-X A factual documentation of suicides in Cornton Vale Prison.
