Stirling

Role and background

HMP and YOI Stirling is Scotland's national establishment for young and adult women on remand or serving sentences. It receives women directly from court and can transfer them to other establishments in the women's estate when appropriate.

Inside the prison and daily life

Its stated design capacity is 117, with a separate mother-and-baby unit providing two spaces. These are design provisions, rather than a count of the women or babies present on a particular day.

Accommodation is arranged in eight housing units: Primrose, Bluebell, Iris, Myrtle, Begonia, Wintergreen, Thistle and Heather. The organisation of the site is therefore different from the image of a single large traditional prison wing.

Visiting and family contact

Women awaiting trial and women serving sentences have different legal positions and visiting arrangements. Remand custody does not establish guilt, and a description of the establishment must avoid treating everyone held there as convicted.

Family contact is managed through booked visits and identification checks. Anyone arranging a visit should confirm the current process for the woman they are visiting rather than assume all parts of the estate operate identically. Stirling's role is both national reception and continuing custody, within a system that also includes smaller community custody units for selected women.

Practical advice before you make arrangements

Use Stirling's official page below for its current booking route, required identification, permitted items and travel instructions.

Confirm that the person is still at Stirling and that your visit has been accepted before making travel arrangements. Ask the prison in advance about disability access, medication or children's needs.