2. ESTABLISHMENT AND POPULATION

Establishment

2.1 The NIC opened in 1995 with the first prisoners being admitted in May of that year. Located within the former ‘E’ Hall of HMP Shotts, it is a separate accommodation unit with three landings and has its own perimeter fence to separate it from the main prison. Currently, it can accommodate 52 Category ‘B’ and two Category A’’ prisoners in single cell accommodation, in addition to which there are five observation cells - but see paragraph 3.1.

2.2 The NIC’s primary purpose is to address the needs of the very long term prisoner by locating these prisoners, immediately after sentencing, in a setting in which they can adjust and come to terms with their imprisonment and where they can address their initial coping difficulties as they arise. The Working Party which led to the creation of the NIC recommended that the philosophy and ethos of the new facility should be in keeping with the Mission of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and closely aligned to the Opportunity and Responsibility agenda, with Sentence Planning Management at the core of its regime delivery and service provision. Further detail on the historical formation of the NIC is shown at Annex 1.

2.3 The NIC was customised to meet its present role and to maximise its self containment; it has its own gymnasium, workshed, visits area, TV room, recreation area and office accommodation.

2.4 The current selection criteria for the NIC have been extended from the original concept. Space permitting, it now accepts prisoners serving eight years and over, though it continues to exclude sex offenders irrespective of length of sentence. Prisoners spend an average of nine months in the NIC prior to being transferred to one of the mainstream long term prisons at Shotts, Glenochil or Perth.

Population

2.5 The establishment is designed to hold 54 in single cell accommodation and on the first day of our inspection, the population was 45. A breakdown of the sentences being served was:-

2.6 A breakdown of the security categories was:-

2.7 Since the NIC opened in 1995, there had been one serious assault on a member of staff; in 1997 one prisoner had also required hospital treatment following a fight with another prisoner. There have been no escapes, absconds, suicides or serious para-suicidal attempts. At the time of inspection, however, two prisoners were on medical observation.