HMP & YOI Polmont

A national facility with three populations

In shortPolmont is Scotland’s only prison for young males aged 18 to 21, and also holds adult men and adult women.

• First opened1911As a Borstal, in the former Blairlodge Academy buildings; Brightons area of Falkirk
• Design capacity758607 single rooms, in three houses: Iona, Monro and Blair

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) describes a national facility that is the only prison in Scotland to house young males aged 18 to 21, across all sentence types, most of them coming directly from court.

Young males, 18 to 21

All sentence types, most coming directly from court.

Adult men, 21 and over

Serving short and long sentences.

Adult women

Transferred from other establishments; may be remanded or convicted.

• HMIPS describes Polmont as Scotland’s national holding facility for male children and young males aged 16 to 21.
• In 2023 it noted a very small number of children were still held there, saying children should not be held in prison while more therapeutic alternatives exist.
• The SPS listed a design capacity of 758 on 9 September 2025.

The August 2023 full inspection

In shortSeven of nine standards were satisfactory and two generally acceptable, describing a calm, stable, forward-looking prison.

• Inspected14 to 18 Aug 2023First full inspection since November 2018
• Satisfactory / generally acceptable7 / 2
• Good practice / recommendations34 / 76

The senior management team had brought vision and energy, staff felt valued and supported, and a staff mentoring scheme was welcomed. NHS Forth Valley’s healthcare had moved from a poor to a satisfactory rating.

Change in the population and the 2025 follow-up

In shortAdult men have been introduced to a young people’s prison, and the 2025 follow-up found young men still locked in cells too long.

At the 2023 inspection the prison was preparing for more women and for adult men. HMIPS endorsed using spare capacity while asking for sensitive change management so young people and women were not destabilised.

Working at Polmont

In shortPolmont is also where the SPS College is based, and officers work with young people, adult women and adult men in one establishment.

The SPS careers pages list roles at the SPS College, Polmont. Polmont is a demanding posting in the sense that officers work with young people, adult women and adult men in one establishment.

• The August 2023 inspection records that only 24% of staff were trained in control and restraint Phase 1, so the pool for mutual aid was potentially mostly officers in their first year after SPS College training.
• Some roles on the incident command team were significantly under complement.
• High numbers of staff needed refreshers in core training.