The tough-talking new boss of the north-east’s “superjail” says his prison is back on track after a catalogue of early failures.
Governor Allister Purdie believes £140million HMP Grampian is starting to live up to its title of the most modern in Scotland.
He was closely involved in designing the jail during his time at Scottish Prison Service (SPS) headquarters in Edinburgh, and previously served as the governor of women’s prison Cornton Vale.
And with today’s publication of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons report on HMP Grampian, Mr Purdie and his team have a report card to measure their progress.
He said: “I think the report is a fairly balanced, it picks out some really key positive strengths for the establishment, especially in the prisoner and staff relationships and safety in the prison.
“That provides the basis for us to do the meaningful work we have to with offenders.”
Despite the improvements highlighted in chief inspector David Strang’s report, HMP Grampian has already garnered a bad reputation for violence and perceived staff incompetence.
In May 2014, within weeks of its official opening, young offenders rampaged through the Ellon wing, causing £150,000 of damage.
In the wake of a 14-hour standoff with riot police, all male young offenders were transferred to Polmont. The Ellon wing has lain empty ever since.
Mr Purdie said: “At the time of May 2014 when there was a resettlement of inmates, there were around 60 or 70 young offenders who were actually from the north-east of Scotland who were located in Grampian.
“The good news story for Scotland is that number has dwindled to about 20. There are only 20 young men in Polmont just now who could be located in the north-east of Scotland.”
The governor said the “quality of the regime” at Polmont meant the young men were better off where they are for now, but that Grampian would start taking prisoners back to integrate them into the local community.
He added that the prison was now “at full tilt, full capacity”.
Since the turn of the year, HMP Grampian – excluding Ellon wing – has been operating at about 95% capacity.
Following the unrest in 2014 there were accusations that staff were poorly trained and in a letter to the Press and Journal in November, one female inmate claimed the jail was effectively “run by inmates”.
But Mr Purdie believes he now has a good team in place.
He said: “We’ve got a more experienced staff group and we’re heavily focused on development for our staff here.”
And he accepted that drugs would always present a challenge.
In yesterday’s Press and Journal it was revealed more cocaine was confiscated at Grampian than at any other jail in Scotland.
“Yes it’s a big issue,” Mr Purdie said. “Yes we can do more about it.
“But to put things into context, we carry out prevalence testing for a month every year.
“We carried that out in November 2015 – 79% of those admitted to prison tested positive for drugs.
“That gives you an understanding of what’s happening in our communities for the people on the way in.”
Mr Purdie and his team will now work with the inspector and other agencies including the NHS to tackle issues raised in the report.
