Scotland's only women's prison in 'state of crisis', says inspector.

Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 January 2010 13.04 GMT

Brigadier Hugh Monro

FAIRSCAPE COMMENT Little more need be said. This appalling state of affairs - if we are led to believe this report - will create more female criminals. These women should be working every day to rehabilitate themselves so that they may re-enter society as active, non-offending, good people. Fairscape could do it for these women. Click here for the Fairscape website.

Scotland's only women's prison is in a "state of crisis" with most of its inmates living in unacceptable and worsening conditions, a damning report by the chief Scottish prisons inspector has concluded.

Brigadier Hugh Monro said many of the 351 women and teenage offenders at Cornton Vale prison near Stirling were living with inadequate bedding, food and toilets, while too many inmates "spend too much time confined to their cells".

Despite its well-documented problems, particularly from over-crowding, Monro alleged that senior executives in the Scottish prison service (SPS) had been ignoring the prison and had allowed it to decay further.