The new £140m superjail at Peterhead has been branded a “white elephant” after it emerged the flagship prison is only half-full of prisoners.
HMP Grampian opened in March last year and was hailed as the first of a new generation of jails in Scotland.
However, it was plunged into crisis just a month later when a riot caused tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage and led to all young offenders being transferred from site to other prisons across Scotland.
The young offenders have yet to return to HMP Grampian as the regime at the flagship centre in overhauled – with the number of adult prisoners also restricted given the lack of experienced staff on site.
Despite boasting a capacity of more than 500 inmates, new figures show that only 250 prisoners have been sent there.
North-east Liberal Democrat MSP Alison McInnes said: “Last night she said: “It is disappointing that this newest prison, delivered at great expense, is still under-utilised.
“The Scottish Government trumpeted its opening as a major step forward in rehabilitation and yet young offenders are still being sent hundreds of miles away from home to serve their sentences as the young offenders unit still remains empty.”
Local councillor Alan Buchan said he was not surprised at the figures.
He said: “When this prison was originally planned there was only 250 local prisoners and, at the time, I was telling the prison service this – that a capacity 550 prison would never be filled by local prisoners.
“For example, there’s only four women prisoners in Aberdeenshire at any one time. So why have a whole wing for them in a prison when there’s only four prisoners in Aberdeenshire?
“Realistically, now, we’ve got a prison here that has turned into a white elephant because the capacity is too large for local prisoners and they’re going to have to fill it with people from Glasgow and the central belt area.”
However, others have defended the prison, saying it was important that time was taken to get the right model in place for HMP Grampian.
Councillor Stuart Pratt said: “They are building up to full capacity, and they hope to be there by the end of the year I believe. It’s a gradual build-up after the disturbance that there was earlier on when people were moved away.
“There are enough prisoners in this area – the area this prison was built for – to fill it.”
The violence in the Ellon Wing last April led to £150,000 worth of damage with guards forced to use pepper spray to control prisoners following a 14-hour standoff.
Stewart Stevenson, SNP MSP for Banffshire and Buchan coast, defended the Scottish Government’s record at HMP Grampian.
He said: “While the operational capacity of the new jail is 500, given the early teething problems which were encountered, I’d rather the Prison Service took their time, as they are doing, and get it right for the sake of staff safety.
“It’s also my understanding that prisoner numbers across Scotland have dropped, which must be good news and is, I trust, testament to the work being done to reduce reoffending in our prisons.”
Mr Stevenson addd: “The new prison secured hundreds of local jobs and I believe the SPS is still looking to recruit locally.”
The super jail, built to is the country’s first “community facing” jail.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) heralded HMP Grampian – which was built to replace Peterhead and Aberdeen Craiginches prisons – as the first in a new wave of penal facilities.
The idea is to focus on rehabilitation in an effort to cut down on costly re-offending.
Prisoners are, when possible, placed in jails close to their homes to allow regular family visits – but the difficulties at HMP Grampian has led to prisoners being placed further away from home in many cases
Tom Fox, spokeman for the Scottish Prison Service, said: “It was expected there was a slow ramp up. To be truthful, it has taken longer than we anticipated. The most important thing is to be sure that what we do is right.”
“There are a number of things we need to do. Part of it is getting experience into staff.
“It’s no great secret that we’re in quite a competitive jobs market in the north-east at the moment but we’re confident given time we will get the numbers we need to make the place a success.
“The key priority has been over the last year to make sure that what is quite complex model of prison operates properly. And that’s what we’re doing.”