A fire or disturbance or any other unanticipated event that reduces capacity in the prison system would force an emergency release of inmates, Scottish Prison Service chief executive Mike Ewart said today.

Speaking to the Justice Committee, Ewart also said that if prisoner numbers kept rising, decisions would have to be made on making emergency releases of some inmates.

Ewart was giving evidence on the Budget process, and repeatedly told Committee members when asked about issues relating to overcrowding, currently running at record rates: “There is no spare capacity.”

Asked by Committee convener Bill Aitken what a fire disabling a wing of Barlinnie prison would entail, Ewart replied:

“The position at the moment is that we require to seek the authority of the Cabinet Secretary to make an emergency release of prisoners to allow us to maintain the stability of the operation by reducing the population to take account of the loss of accommodation we had suffered.

“There is no spare capacity in the system to absorb a significant loss of accommodation. There would have to be a controlled approach to dealing with any significant loss of accommodation, and part of that would be seeking the approval of Government and subsequently the Parliament to allow us to correct the population level.”

Cathie Craigie MSP then asked if the SPS was “anywhere near” requesting emergency release due to overcrowding.

Ewart said: “It could happen at any time. Some of the infrastructure is very elderly.”

Ewart also refused to disclose if he has had any direct discussions with Cabinet Secretary Kenny MacAskill over the issue.