Prison staff across the north and north-east have taken more than 8,000 days off work for mental health reasons in the last five years, new data has shown.
In the five years leading up to March 2021, a total of 6,809 days off were taken by staff in HMP Grampian for mental health reasons.
A further 1,320 days were lost in HMP Inverness by staff taking days off for mental health reasons throughout the five years.
Across Scotland, more than 100,000 working days were lost, with prison staff calling in sick because of their mental health on 100,770 days in the last five years.
The “damning” figures have been criticised by the Scottish Conservatives, who said it shows the need for the pressures on prison staff to be tackled head-on.
Prison workers ‘deserve more’
At HMP Grampian in Peterhead, 1,139 working days were lost between April 2020 and March 2021 due to mental health, higher than the previous year when 816 days off were taken.
The sickness rate attributed to mental health among prison staff was highest between 2018-19, when 2,233 days were taken off.
North East MSP Douglas Lumsden said: “I believe the pandemic has uncovered a mental health crisis among our prison officers. But these figures make it clear the problem was brewing long before the events of the last year.
“Frontline workers at HMP Grampian frankly deserve more from the SNP government.
“The right support just hasn’t been there, and that has resulted in thousands of days lost to absence.”
At HMP Inverness, in the Crown area of the city, 147 working days were lost between April 2020 and March 2021 due to mental health, higher than the previous year when only 65 days were taken.
The sickness rates were highest between 2017-18, when 588 days were taken off attributed to mental health reasons.
‘Drug crisis’ increasing the pressure
The Scottish Conservatives said the government’s failure to tackle the drugs crisis in prisons was contributing to mental health illness among staff.
Jamie Greene MSP, the party’s shadow cabinet secretary for justice said: “Prison staff are subjected to vast amounts of pressure every day, and we have a responsibility to alleviate some of that pressure by tackling its causes head-on.
“The SNP government’s failure to address the drugs crisis in our prisons only feeds into a vicious cycle of crime. That can lead to violence against prison staff and cause significant mental health problems.
“To avoid mental health absences increasing even further, the SNP must take action to stop letting drugs into our prisons and clamp down on violence against our hard-working prison officers.”
The Prison Officers’ Association Scotland told the Scottish Sun that overcrowding was also a problem staff faced.
Phil Fairlie told the newspaper the issue had improved during the coronavirus crisis, when some prisoners were released early, but the situation was expected to worsen.
“One of [the] other big problems is prisoners with mental health issues.
“For many, prison is not the right place for them, and prison officers – with the best will in the world – are not trained to deal with the significant mental health issues.
“That, in turn, can lead to some staff ending up with mental health issues due to working in that environment,” he added.
Staff welfare taken ‘extremely seriously’
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: “Prison officers do a very difficult job which tends to be hidden from wider society, and we take the health and well-being of our staff extremely seriously.
“We have a wide range of support mechanisms in place to help staff cope with stress and other mental health issues.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government added: “It is to the great credit of staff who work in our prisons that they perform well and that good order is maintained. That is especially true given the additional complexities caused by the Covid period.
“The use of illegal drugs in prisons is not tolerated and a comprehensive range of robust security measures are in place to prevent the introduction of contraband entering our prisons.”