HMP Edinburgh is located in the west of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on the main A71, in an area now known as Stenhouse, and, although never named as such, has commonly been known as Saughton Prison from the old name for the general area. The prison is situated on the edge of a predominantly residential area and has good transport and road links to the city centre, which provides good access both for local courts and prison visitors. The building of the prison began on 31 July 1914 with the first prisoner being received in 1919. The prison consists of four halls: Glenesk, Hermiston, Ingliston and Ratho. The prison receives inmates from the courts in Edinburgh, the Lothians and the Borders. The prison manages adult male individuals including those on remand, short term sentences (serving less than four years), long term sentences (serving four years or more), life sentence prisoners and extended sentence prisoners ( Order for Lifelong Restriction).

Healthcare

As of 1 November 2011, healthcare is provided by the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

. Prior to this it was provided through prison service employed nursing staff, with a GP and on call service provided by the healthcare staff provider (Medacs).

Library

The prison library was the winner of the 2010 UK Libraries Change Lives Award for its work in promoting literacy among its incarcerated population, who typically have much lower literacy rates on admission than the general population. Kate King, the librarian, was also named UK public library staff member of the year in 2014.

Notable inmates

* Robert Bayne – Sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Zoe Nelson. * Isla Bryson – believed to be the first

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

woman to be convicted of rape for offences she committed prior to transition. * Dominic Devine – Convicted of rape and attempted murder. Transferred to HM Prison Shotts after being caught smuggling drugs. * Stephen Gough – A naked rambler repeatedly imprisoned for public nudity. *

Craig Murray Craig John Murray (born 17 October 1958) is a Scottish author, human rights campaigner, journalist, and former diplomat. While he was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan (2002–2004), he exposed the violations of human rights in that count ...

– Journalist convicted of contempt of court. *

Eduardo Paolozzi Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (, ; 7 March 1924 – 22 April 2005) was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art. Early years Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi was born on 7 M ...

– Scottish sculptor and artist was held here for three months during World War II because of his Italian heritage. * Kenny Richey – Served 21 years on death row in Ohio, and spent 6 months at HMP Edinburgh before being found not guilty of Serious Assault to permanent disfigurement and was released on 8 March 2009. * Nicholas Rossi – American sex offender and fugitive, who claims mistaken identity. Extradited back to the USA in January 2024. * Vincent Reynouard – French holocaust denier and Nazi sympathiser. *

Peter Tobin Peter Britton Tobin (27 August 1946 – 8 October 2022) was a Scottish convicted serial killer and sex offender who served a whole life order at HM Prison Edinburgh for three murders committed between 1991 and 2006. Police also investigated T ...

– Sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order for the murders of Angelika Kluk, Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol. Tobin died in October 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:HMP Edinburgh 1919 establishments in Scotland Buildings and structures in Edinburgh

Government buildings in Edinburgh Government agencies established in 1919