'I live next to new £85m superjail - all I can hear is female inmates screaming'
Locals living next to Britain's new £85m 'superjail' say the noise of female in-mates screaming abuse at each other is ruining their lives.
Residents are so fed up they have recorded lags at HMP & YOI Stirling shouting 'f*** off! f*** off!' and have filed complains and say the newly-build prison has left them refusing to go into their gardens. Some of the most complex and vulnerable women within the system will now be heading to the Scottish establishment.
The audio of current prisoners was recorded by those living next door in Forth Park and Vale Grove, who say it has been ‘non-stop’ noise since construction earlier this year. They say when they walk past they can hear the inmates shouting at each other. The women’s prison is designed in a campus-style, with no bars on doors or windows.
People living in the houses next to the jail refuse to use their gardens (Katielee Arrowsmith SWNS)But residents have reported being harassed as they walk through the neighbourhood, hearing constant sounds of fights. One resident has released audio footage of prisoners heard from their garden. Women in the video can be heard screaming expletives at each other, with one prisoner repeatedly shrieking “f*** off.”
The resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “We can’t use our gardens, the children can’t go out and play, we can’t socialise. We shut our windows and we can still hear everything – to the extent where we know four or five of the prisoners’ names. We’ve got pensioners trying to sell their houses because they don’t have any other options.
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“The perimeter fence is ten metres away from our houses, and in another five metres, you’ve got the cells – it’s hardly surprising that we can hear every conversation. They should have carried out sound tests to see how far that was going to have an impact on our houses. There was absolutely nothing like that done.”
The anonymous contributor described a walk-through held at the prison with the governor to ease the residents’ minds but when complaints were raised, they were allegedly met with complete inaction. “The very first meeting that we went to, we had a walk around with the governor,” said the resident.
“When we went for our walkthrough, things kicked off and the whole place went into lockdown. They were like crazed animals pressing their faces up against the window – it was like an asylum. I told the governor that this is what we’re hearing on a daily basis, seven days a week since the prisoners arrived here.
''They just shrugged their shoulders – there was nothing they could say. They told us the prisoners can’t see out the windows – only we can see in. Last week, they moved prisoners back into an area where they had been moved out to calm things down – one of the neighbours heard them say they could see everything in our houses. They’re telling us a pack of lies.”
A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP & YOI Stirling has delivered a significant step change in the way in which we support women in our care, many of whom are vulnerable and have experience of trauma and adversity. Our relationship with the surrounding community is crucial to this and we have met with neighbours to listen to their concerns about noise from the establishments. We are looking at a number of infrastructure and operational measures, with an aim to reduce noise levels.”
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