Replacement Barlinnie prison compared to luxury holiday resort

Russell Findlay, the party’s leader, accused SNP ministers of building a “five star” jail and criticised the spiralling cost of HMP Glasgow, which will replace Barlinnie.

First Minister John Swinney called the comments “reprehensible and despicable”.

It comes after the Scottish Government announced the prison’s price tag will come close to £1 billion - ten times more than an initial estimate of around £100 million in 2014. It is expected to be completed in 2028, years behind schedule.

Speaking during First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood, Mr Findlay said: “Instead of building a high-security prison to lock up rapists and murderers, John Swinney thinks he is building either a luxury resort or a nature reserve.

“The Justice Secretary says it will be ‘based around small communities living together and supporting each other’.

“There will be an orchard of fruit trees, there will be beautiful landscape gardens, planting beds, poly tunnels, amphitheatre-like steps.

“Surely, we need some common sense by building a prison at minimum cost to taxpayers, not maximum benefit to prisoners.”

Responding, the First Minister said: “I think the tone of Mr Findlay’s question is absolutely reprehensible and despicable.

“If he wants to have a dividing line in politics on this type of stuff, then I will happily be on the other side of the argument from Russell Findlay and all of the cohorts that he is courting in his question.”

Mr Findlay said the cohort he is speaking to is “hard-working Scots taxpayers”, and he accused the Scottish Government of building a “five-star” prison.

He said: “That illustrates how detached the Holyrood bubble has become from the real world and it is why so many people are disillusioned with politics. This John Swinney Government is neglecting what really matters to people.

“So as a matter of urgency, will he commit to cutting these outrageous costs, or will he just expect taxpayers to pipe down and pay up?”

Mr Swinney said it was “very visible” what Mr Findlay was doing with his comments, adding: “He is absolutely terrified of his party being consumed by Reform, as all the polls suggest, and is playing into their hands with every bit of obnoxious rhetoric that he comes out with today.”

The new prison will replace Barlinnie on the outskirts of Glasgow, with the 143-year-old jail said to no longer be fit for purpose in the most recent report from HM Chief Inspector of Prison in Scotland, amid concerns about overcrowding.

HMP Glasgow, at nearby Provanmill, will be able to hold 1,344 prisoners, 357 more than Barlinnie.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance previously said the £998.4 million cost is comparable to similar projects elsewhere in the UK and had been affected by inflation caused by Brexit and the Covid pandemic.

“Earlier estimates were made prior to the site and the design, final design being completed, and it was also based on a much smaller prison,” she said.

“Everybody will understand the devastating impacts on the construction industry in terms of price inflation for materials that have been a result of Covid and Brexit.”