Record 58 deaths in Scottish prisons in 2024

A record number of people died in Scottish prisons in 2024, with 58 deaths recorded.

Data from the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) show that at least six prisoners took their own lives and another seven died of drug overdoses. Other deaths were due to natural causes, or no cause had yet been given.

The total exceeded the previous record of 53 deaths set in 2022. It sparked a debate, with Liam Kerr, the Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary, linked the high death rate to the capacity crisis in jails. He accused Scotland’s SNP-led Government of failing to “get a grip on Scotland’s ever-crowing prison crisis” and said: “The Scottish Government has known about this catastrophic situation for years and has been told in no uncertain terms how to deal with it. Yet still hardly anything has been done, and lives continue to be needlessly lost.

“Hardworking prison officers simply haven’t been supported to tackle rampant violence and drug use in our prisons which puts them and other prisoners at risk. SNP ministers are detached from the reality occurring daily in our prisons and must accept their current approach simply isn’t working.”

However, Professor Sarah Armstrong of Glasgow University, who leads a team researching deaths in prisons, claimed the high number of deaths was “not a function of overcrowding but the opposite, of isolation”.

She said: “HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland has strongly criticised the lack of activity in prisons and reliance on locking people in cells for up to 22 hours per day. The issue is low staff morale, staff sick leave levels, and an acceptance of poor conditions and outcomes.”

Scotland’s only privately managed prison, Sodexo-run G4S, recorded the most deaths, with 11. Glasgow’s HMP Barlinnie recorded eight.

Emma Jardine, policy and public affairs adviser for Howard League Scotland, warned that mental health care in prisons was crucial for preventing deaths in custody. She said: “The SPS’s new mental health strategy looks very promising on paper but under current prison conditions will be almost impossible to deliver.

“There are very long waiting lists for mental health assessments and interventions. There’s lots of research on the heightened risks for those newly coming into prison — particularly for the first time and for those on remand, who are often faced with the unknown of when they’ll come to trial.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “The safe treatment and mental health of all those in custody who are at higher levels of risk and vulnerability than the general population as a whole is a priority for the Scottish Government. Scottish Government departments are working with partners to ensure the safety of everyone in custody.”