A Lib Dem MSP has claimed Scotland’s jails are in a “state of emergency” after prison assaults reached a five-year high.
A freedom of information request by the party showed serious prisoner-on-prisoner assaults increased from 94 in 2017-18 to 135 in 2018-19.
Assaults which caused either minor or no injuries rose from 2120 to 2995 over the same period.
The largest increase in serious prisoner-on-prisoner assaults was at HMP Kilmarnock, which saw a rise from two cases in 2017-18 to 16 in 2018-19.
HMP Perth saw the most significant decrease, with a fall from 15 to eight cases.
The number of serious assaults by prisoners on staff fell from 14 in 2017-18 to 10 in 2018-19. But there were 410 assaults on staff that caused minor or no injuries in 2018-19, up from 283 the year before.
The highest number of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults with minor or no injuries was recorded at HMYOI Polmont – rising to 606 in 2018-19 from 518.
The Scottish Lib Dems previously warned of staff shortages and overcrowding in prisons. Justice spokesman Liam McArthur MSP said: “These figures show that Scotland’s prisons are in a state of emergency.”
A Scottish Prisons Service spokeswoman said: “Our prisons hold increasingly complex and challenging populations.
“We recognise the importance of providing a safe and secure environment for those in custody as well as for the men and women who work in our prisons.
“SPS provides a range of support measures and interventions to staff who have been assaulted.”
McArthur's comments come just days after a prison officer was shot at as he left his home in Glasgow to travel to his work.
Gary Chambers, 38, who works at Addiewell jail near Livingston, was the victim of a targeted hit early on Thursday morning in the affluent suburb of Bearsden.
