Scottish Prison Service Chief Executive Teresa Midhurst was reported to Police Scotland in December 2023 over allegations of fraud, criminal conspiracy and professional misconduct while in public office, it has emerged.
The Scottish jails boss was also accused of serious fraud offences to the tune of many millions of pounds against the Scottish taxpayer.
The criminal complaint relates to millions of pounds spent on the SPS Offending Behaviour Programs, which were deemed inadequate for the rehabilitation of prisoners and then used after their accreditation had expired.
Police Scotland has responded and assigned a crime incident number.
‘No evidence of reducing reoffending’
The SPS provides rehabilitation courses with SAPOR [Scottish Advisory Panel on Reducing Offending] accreditation to prisoners. The SPS purports these courses are proven to work and necessary to address alleged identified treatment needs of prisoners, before they are suitable for release on parole. The SPS, overseen by Scottish Ministers, has received so far millions of pounds from the Scottish taxpayer in funding for these courses.
A major review of these courses was commissioned by the SPS itself – entitled “SPS – Review of Psychological Services” – in 2016. Professor Mary McMurran of Nottingham University was authorised to investigate the validity of the SPS courses.
The review shockingly concluded that there is no evidence that any of the SPS courses work in reducing reoffending amongst prisoners. The review found that SAPOR accreditation criteria included that there should be an evaluation of offending behaviour programs by the SPS, yet these were never completed.
One of the main perpetrators accused of upholding this injustice appears to be the HMP Glenochil Governor Natalie Beal. Ms. Beal is aware of the criminal complaint against the SPS and its Chief Executive and is aware of the damning Review of Psychological Services that the SPS itself commissioned.
Despite this, in July 2022 Ms. Beal presided over a RMT hearing in HMP Glenochil for a 48-year-old prisoner and decided the prisoner needed to undertake the SPS Discovery course, despite the lack of evidence of its benefits.
Expired accreditation
It also appears that SAPOR accreditation for most SPS courses expired in winter 2022, meaning the SPS forces countless prisoners to undergo unaccredited, untested and possibly even harmful ‘rehabilitation’ courses. The injustice gets worse as the Parole Board of Scotland denies hundreds of prisoners annually the chance of parole if they have not completed their SPS courses, which is a public outrage and causes untold harm to fellow citizens who find themselves in custody.
Josh Rosenberg from the SOHO535-INSTITUTE, a prison reform campaigner from Scotland, said: “The SPS, led by Scottish Ministers and by the SNP led Scottish Government, are called upon to rectify that grave scandal within days and to put a stop to the severe abuse of Human Rights of prisoners in their care.”
Crisis at HMP Glenochil revealed
A Freedom of Information request has revealed the deeply concerning situation at HMP Glenochil, led by Governor Natalie Beal. According to the request, received August 2024:
- Between July 2023 and July 2024, 91 illegal sim cards and 82 illegal mobile phones were found on prisoners.
- 1,116 complaints were raised by prisoners in HMP Glenochil in that period against the SPS.
- 18 prisoners died in HMP Glenochil. Multiple sources in HMP Glenochil confirm the establishment is in a totally chaotic overcrowded and lawless state of meltdown.
- Two separate escape attempts by prisoners in HMP Glenochil have been recorded recently. Each prisoner managed to climb over the first outside yard fence, before prison officers were able to apprehend the inmates.
Josh Rosenberg added: “The Scottish Prison Service and the dangerously overcrowded Scottish prison estate is in a freefall total meltdown, and they are dragging their residents supposedly in their care down with them.
“The current Scottish Justice Secretary Angela Constance and Scottish First Minister John Swinney currently preside over one of the biggest prison scandals in the UK in modern history and have so far failed to remedy that.”
