The Justice Secretary must take action to ensure young people under the age of 16 are not being imprisoned alongside adults, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons has warned in his annual report.

Dr Andrew McLellan's latest report further focuses on high levels of overcrowding and poor conditions for remand prisoners, warning they are living in the "worst conditions and have the worst regime in any prison".

"They hardly ever have the chance of a job to break up the day and may well spend 22 hours out of 24 locked up. This situation must not be allowed to continue," he added.

Other areas of concern highlighted in the report include quality of food served to prisoners, lack of work for prisoners, and problems in reducing reoffending.

Commenting on the imprisonment of children, McLellan said: "It is very frustrating that children under the age of 16 are still being sent to prison – despite the Cabinet Secretary's announcement that it should stop. This practice should be abolished."

Responding to the recommendation, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill stated: "I agree with Dr McLellan that prison is no place for children and share his frustration that a small number of children under 16 were in prison custody over the last year. I am pleased to report that there are currently no under-16s in prison in Scotland.

"I announced plans earlier this year to abolish unruly certificates, which allow children aged 14 and 15 appearing on a charge before a criminal court to be remanded in prison custody.

"We are also developing plans to ensure that more children who are placed in secure care following conviction remain there beyond their 16th birthday, rather than being transferred to the prison estate – most often a young offenders' institution."

However, Labour justice spokesperson Richard Baker argued the Justice Secretary was not doing enough to ease overcrowding.

"Dr McLellan's report is a snapshot of a prison system in crisis," he argued. "In the last year we have seen record levels of overcrowding and the continuation of absconds from the Open Estate.
 
"We have a situation where sex offenders are not taking part in treatment programmes at Peterhead due to staff shortages, where almost every jail in Scotland is running at overcapacity and the Scottish Prison Service themselves say the system is on the brink.
 
"But what is Kenny MacAskill's grand plan to fix this? Empty the jails of 4,000 prisoners and hope for the best.
 
"Kenny MacAskill has done precisely nothing about levels of overcrowding, the new prison at Addiewell was developed by Labour and the SNP refused to bring forward its opening to relieve pressure. Other prison developments at Greenock and Inverness have no budget, no timescale and no chance of being built for years.
 
"The public want to see an end to automatic early release but the SNP will not bring that forward. Instead we get a system on the brink of collapse."

Conservative MSP Bill Aitken claimed it was a "fantasy story" that the Scottish Government is building three new prisons, arguing two of the 'new' prisons are in fact replacement jails and the other does not even have planning permission.

He warned: "If an emergency hits one of Scotland’s prisons, such as fire, flood or storm damage, and prison places are lost, then the SNP’s contingency plans amount to nothing more than an emergency release of prisoners to walk the streets of Scotland."

On a more positive note, the new report does welcome developments made in sanitation and ensuring slopping out is eradicated, improved safety of prisons, links with outside agencies, and attempts to tackle alcohol abuse.