2. ESTABLISHMENT AND POPULATION

Establishment

2.1 HM Remand Institution, Longriggend is situated in North Lanarkshire between Airdrie and Slamannan in an area surrounded largely by farms and bleak moorland. Opened in 1963 on the site of a former isolation hospital, it is not a custom built prison and over the years, various buildings have been added to increase its capacity and facilities.

2.2 Acting as an Annex to HMP Barlinnie, the primary function of the Institution is to serve the Courts within the Strathclyde and Central Regions by holding male remand prisoners under the age of 21 from those areas. More recently, however, the Institution has been accepting remands from HMP Edinburgh in addition to those from its normal sources. The average time spent in custody is currently 17 days though depending on the nature or complexity of their case, some individuals can be there for over three months. For those who are there for those longer periods, the Institution’s location and the limited bus service does tend to create an unsatisfactory visiting situation for a population facing uncertainty because of their remand status and generally acknowledged to be at a vulnerable age.

2.3 In addition to the remand population, there was also a small group of convicted adult prisoners who assisted with domestic duties; more recently the SPS had also been using the site as a location for holding Persons Awaiting Deportation (PAD), in addition to the arrangements which were already in place for such individuals at HMP Greenock.

Population

2.4 The Institution is designed to hold 176 in single cell accommodation and on the first full day of our inspection (Monday 1 September 1997) the population was 147, accommodated as follows:-

2.5 Of that total population of 147, there were 123 on remand, 20 adult convicted prisoners, two PADs and two schoolboys. The breakdown of the remand and adult population was:-

2.6 All of the remand population and the PADs were classified as security category ‘B’, whilst a breakdown of the adult convicted categories was:-

2.7 In the year prior to our inspection, there had been no escapes or absconds but there had been 24 minor assaults by remands on other remands and 12 minor assaults on staff. Over that same period there had been one suicide, five attempted suicides and eight para-suicides, all by remands and at the time of our inspection, 33 remands were on some form of suicide supervision or medical observation - see paragraph 5.18.

2.8 In overall terms, it would appear that the number of those being held on remand at the Institution may be beginning to reduce, in sharp contrast to the situation found in most other establishments. Average numbers for recent calendar years are shown below:-