First inmates at new Grampian prison in Peterhead
The new prison will be the first to house men, women and young offenders all on the same site
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Scotland's newest prison is due to take in its first inmates.
HMP Grampian in Peterhead replaces the town's old jail, as well as Craiginches prison in Aberdeen. Both of them have been shut down.
The new prison will have the capacity for about 500 inmates - including adult males, young offenders and female prisoners.
It is the first Scottish prison to incorporate all three groups on one site.
HMP Grampian will also have a dedicated unit for training prisoners for a return to work when they are released. The unit will include a telephone marketing centre.
Peterhead jail was closed in December last year and Craiginches was shut last month, with inmates transferred to other facilities until the new site was ready.
During the transition a "virtual visiting" scheme which allowed prisoners to keep in touch with loved ones via video link was piloted.
The Peterhead and Craiginches sites are both up for sale and are due to be demolished.
Self-portrait of alleged victim Colin Penrose in 2011.
John Clark appeared at Glasgow  on Friday charged with murdering cellmate Colin Penrose, 22, in the city's .

Penrose, from the West Coast town of , had been recalled to prison for alleged further offending after being paroled from a sentence for sexual assault against a teenager. Police Scotland confirmed they were called to the prison, Scotland's largest, shortly after 2:00am on Thursday when Penrose was found dead in the cell.

Clark has been remanded pending a full committal hearing next week. Clark is variously reported to be either 21 or 22.

Penrose died on the top floor of the jail's E Hall. E Hall includes accommodation for vulnerable prisoners.

Penrose, who attended , is survived by his parents, both 60. He listed himself on Facebook as single but had liked a dating page, and according to his profile was seeking employment. "I hate football and I hate the police", his profile reads, adding he enjoyed a drink at the weekend.

In early 2012 he uploaded a photo of himself with a swollen eye. Without explaining the injury he asked "does anybody want to say anything about my eyes in this picture or do you not give a shit what happens to me"? He received no response until a year later, when the reply "thats what happens to beasts

" was received.

Several friends posted condolences to his page after his death. One claimed he had been strangled.

The famous four-storey Victorian prison is routinely overcrowded, with prisoners sharing cells meant for individual use. With drug use at over 80% of the population, Barlinnie is Western Europe's largest dispenser of  substitute .
HMP Barlinnie from file.
In 2011 governor Derek McGill complained "If we could eliminate overcrowding, we could do more with the prisoners." He was speaking after an inspector branded the facility unsafe for prisoners and staff alike due to chronic overcrowding. Scottish Executive  spending cuts around the same time reduced the 's building funds significantly.

Plans are nonetheless afoot to replace Barlinnie with a new prison, to be called . The Prison Service is tendering for consultants to identify potential sites. Although the Scottish Government aims to reduce prisoner populations the new prison is to be more than twice the size of Barlinnie.

The nation's sex offenders were, until recently, usually all held at . The internationally-acclaimed sex offender treatment center was permanently closed late last year and the inmates moved elsewhere. Peterhead prison has been replaced with the 140 million "super prison" , built next door to the Peterhead site. Men, women, and young offenders are all held at the prison for the first time at a Scottish jail and the first inmates arrived this month.  has also closed and been replaced with the new jail. 

Homicide behind bars is unusual in Scotland, though there have been cases in 2006 and 1996. Neighbouring England has seen a spate recently, including four last year. Those four deaths were all charged as murder and represented the highest  total since 1998.


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