Scotland

The union representing Scotland’s 3500 Prison Officers is calling on the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary election to be a turning point for Scotland’s crisis hit prison system. 

Please see attached the POA Scotland Conference Report - Day 1

We have just returned from our annual conference last week in Peebles, and it was a very successful and interesting event, with an agenda of 106 motions to debate and form policy on.

A stark new report published today by the Prison Officers’ Association, the union representing Scotland’s 4000 front line Prison Staff, has laid bare the reality of working in the country’s overcrowded and understaffed prison estate.  “Crisis Point Reached - The Pressures Facing Scotland’s Prison Officers uncovered” draws on the experience and testimony of Prison Officers work ...

With it being just over 2 weeks until Scottish conference, I am just writing to gently remind everyone of the collection for the Trussell Trust foodbank event taking place again this year. 

Overcrowding is the biggest issue in Scotland's prisons, the prison officers' union has said...

POA give evidence to the Scottish Parliament Criminal Justice Committee inquiry into the harm caused by substance misuse in Scottish prisons

Listen to Phil Fairlie, Assistant General Secretary for POA Scotland on the difficulties of organised crime gangs currently in Scotland’s prisons

There’s no sugarcoating it; Scotland’s prison system is in crisis. Overcrowding is at record levels, staffing is dangerously low, and violence is on the rise. But let’s be absolutely clear, it is our members who are being forced to hold the line in impossible circumstances