HMP & YOI Grampian

Scotland’s first purpose-built community-facing prison

In shortGrampian opened in March 2014 as the first purpose-built community-facing prison in Scotland, with Cruden Hall closed since the first inspection in 2015.

• Opened3 March 2014HMIPS date; the SPS says March 2014
• Design capacity552SPS listing, 9 September 2025
• Available contracted places474With Cruden Hall closed

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) says HMP & YOI Grampian was capable of housing over 500 men and women, adults and young offenders, from the north of Scotland.

Cruden Hall held no prisoners at the June 2024 inspection. HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) records that, following serious disorder in the prison’s early months, the male young offenders were relocated and the hall has stayed closed since the first inspection in 2015.

Banff Hall

Women.

Ellon Hall

Men.

Cruden Hall

The third main accommodation block, closed.

Dyce Hall

The separation and reintegration unit.

Community integration units

Two: one for men and one for women.

What inspectors found in June 2024

In shortFive of nine standards were satisfactory and four generally acceptable, with a modern prison but an impoverished regime.

• Inspected3 to 7 June 2024The first full inspection since February 2019
• Satisfactory / generally acceptable5 / 4
• Recommendations103
• Under two hours out of cell a dayAlmost 40%Pre-inspection survey

The report calls Grampian a modern, light and airy establishment with some of the best prison accommodation in Scotland, and says it was disappointing that high-quality accommodation lay empty.

Staff experience, vacancies and relationships

In shortThe report is candid that vacancies and inexperience affected staff-prisoner relationships, while monitors found the prison worked well.

• Vacancies, operational groups19
• Residential officers under two years’ experience50%
• Residential first line managers under two years’ experience67%

Inspectors linked this, and staff regularly being moved around, to the pre-inspection survey results on staff-prisoner relationships, although they witnessed positive interactions during the week. Staff were also sometimes pulled away to cover prisoner escorts when the transport contractor failed at short notice.

• HMIPS recorded positive management steps, including the HMP & YOI Grampian Development Programme with staff mentoring, “coffee cup” meetings, newsletters and health and safety walk-arounds.
• The Independent Prison Monitors (IPMs) wrote in 2024-25 that the prison worked well despite low staffing (SPS and NHS) and overcrowding, and that staff worked hard to maintain time out of cell and purposeful activity.
• IPMs carried out around twice the statutory minimum of weekly visits, with no weeks missed.

Working at Grampian and getting there

In shortThe SPS runs a dedicated Grampian careers page, and HMIPS said recruitment material did not give a realistic description of the role.

• Prison OfficersAround 250Across Operations, Residential and Offender Outcomes
• Peterhead from AberdeenAround 32 milesThe most easterly town on the Scottish mainland
• Working week (Nov 2025 advert)35 hoursNo visa sponsorship: the SPS is not a licensed sponsor

Officers work shifts that include nights and weekends, and a majority typically work seven days across a two-week period. New staff undertake an Officer Foundation Programme and, on returning to the prison, can access a mentoring programme with dedicated mentors and an assigned operational first line manager.

• HMIPS recommended that SPS headquarters review its recruitment process and initial training, saying it was hearing from many new recruits and staff that they did not give a realistic description of the role.
• HMIPS also recommended improving public transport options for families visiting Peterhead.

Recent developments

In shortA women’s mural project is a small example of rehabilitative activity, set against a record prison population.

It is a small illustration of the rehabilitative activity the inspectors said they wanted to see more of.

The wider context is a record prison population: the SPS reported an average of 8,278 in 2025-26 and said it used emergency early release during the year.