Lilias Centre (Community Custody Unit)

What a Community Custody Unit is

In shortLilias is a Glasgow community custody unit opened in 2022: four shared houses for up to 24 low-supervision women.

• Operational2022The IPMs give October 2022; in the Maryhill area of Glasgow
• Capacity24Four “shared houses”
• Order of openingSecondAfter the Bella Centre

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) says the Lilias Centre houses low-supervision women and young people.

It explains that Community Custody Units are designed to be safe and secure while trauma-informed and gender-specific, supporting women who would benefit from closer community contact and local services, and building independent living skills in accommodation based on a shared house principle.

• HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) places the unit in a longer story: the 2012 Commission on Women Offenders report by the former Lord Advocate, Dame Eilish Angiolini, prompted the replacement of HMP YOI Cornton Vale and two small units.
• The Independent Prison Monitors (IPMs) give the opening month as October 2022.
• Women do not arrive from court: they are transferred from another establishment after meeting the criteria, and staff interview those identified as suitable before a move.

What inspectors found in February 2024

In shortEight of nine standards were rated satisfactory and decency good, with concerns over searching, technology and vocational training.

• Inspected27 to 29 Feb 2024Soon after the unit opened
• Satisfactory8
• Good1Decency
• Recommendations22

The Chief Inspector said the unit had strong signs of success and that the team were impressed with management, staff and prisoners in developing what would be seen as an example of good practice. The ambience was described as calm, relaxed and good humoured.

Daily life and community links

In shortInspectors found good employment, education and family contact, and the monitors added community partners and a reduced shopping allowance.

• Weekly shopping allowance£30Reduced from £40 in March 2025 after an SPS review (IPMs)

Meals are planned and prepared by the residents themselves, ordered online with a weekly shopping allowance. IT for education was still unavailable at the end of the 2024-25 year.

• A good range of high-quality employment and work placement opportunities for all eligible women, with high participation.
• An easily accessible and informal Education Centre, and a gym open at times of the women’s choosing.
• Women could move around the centre freely and had supervised longer walks around the internal perimeter twice a week.
• Visits timetabling allowed ample family contact with no limit on how long visitors could stay; a family strategy forum was considering events such as homework clubs and summer family days.
• IPMs, 2024-25: chickens introduced as a new work opportunity, and regular community work placements enjoyed.
• IPMs, 2024-25: partners including the Citizens Theatre, Wise Women, Recovery Coaching Scotland, the Department for Work and Pensions and Fife College delivered activities.

Release planning and the wider women’s estate

In shortRelease planning is multidisciplinary and well supported, though community access can take longer than residents were told.

The IPMs found that a multidisciplinary approach supported sentence and pre-release planning effectively, with regular integrated case management and risk management meetings attended by social work and psychology.

• HMIPS noted that the SPS Strategy for Women in Custody 2021-25 underpins the CCUs.
• It said Lilias and its sister unit the Bella Centre are a powerful demonstration of intent to deliver on that vision.
• It is a very small establishment, so the working picture is one of a compact team in a house-based, community-linked setting rather than a conventional large prison.

Working at the Lilias Centre

In shortThere is no separate recruitment page for Lilias; officers join the SPS and are then deployed.

We found no separate recruitment page for the Lilias Centre. Prison officers join the Scottish Prison Service through the Residential Officer or Operations Officer route and are then deployed to establishments.

• What the inspection shows is the style of work: personal officers who build relationships, an emphasis on trauma-informed practice and independent living skills, and low-key security.
• Whether and how often officers are placed in a unit this small is a question for the SPS.