Report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons on HM Prison, Penninghame 1997

13. General Assessment

13.1 Penninghame has a considerable history of providing testing and rehabilitative arrangements for LTPs and we recognise that its regime continues to represent a considerable effort by the SPS in its attempts on behalf of the public to reduce future crime. At 54 miles from Dumfries and in a rural setting, its isolated location has many advantages though it can prove difficult to find the appropriate type of jobs for its prisoners, especially in winter. Travel to and from this area of south west Scotland is also difficult for families but those limitations are probably just sustainable for most prisoners.

13.2 Prior to inspection, there had been concerns about the fact that the prisoner population was beginning to dwindle which, in turn, had begun to call into question the staff and running costs in relation to the actual number of prisoners. However, SPS HQ had since changed the sentence length criteria for those prisoners being considered for the establishment and latterly there had been welcome signs that the population was on an upward trend. Having dropped as low as 44, the number of prisoners held at the time of signature of this report stood at 82 and was forecast shortly to be 85.

13.3 The immediate future for the establishment could nevertheless prove to be tricky; as prisoners with slightly different criteria settle in, the right mix of outplacements and work must be found for them, which may not be easy. We also counsel against prisoners being at this location for much beyond two years because of the attendant dangers of boredom or staleness.

13.4 We were disappointed to find that illegal drug abuse was fairly widespread, more notably in the evenings and at week-ends, though Management had recently adopted a very comprehensive and multi disciplinary strategy to counter this problem. However, we believe that it would be prudent for a part time addictions worker to be appointed to the establishment in the very near future: this would greatly enhance those efforts which were already aimed at returning individuals to society without habits which would otherwise require the resumption of further crime to fund them.

13.5 We were most impressed with the commitment of the staff serving at the establishment though were told that there could be recruitment difficulties as the isolated nature of the area did not always appeal to their families.

13.6 A recommendation concerning the lack of staff and fire cover during silent hours is made and is shown overleaf, together with a number of points of note. Most of these have already been presented to the Acting Governor and his Management Team.