The chief inspector of prisons has backed dramatic reports that Scotland�s prison system is in a state of �crisis�.

The chief inspector of prisons has backed dramatic reports that Scotland's prison system is in a state of "crisis".

Last week, Mike Ewart, chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), revealed to The Herald that the prison population had reached "emergency" levels and called for it to be capped.

Speaking yesterday at the launch of his inspection report into Dumfries prison, Dr Andrew McLellan, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, said that he would support Mr Ewart's comments.

Dr McLellan also called for a specialist "dedicated unit" within the prison service to cope with the particular needs of elderly inmates.

There are some 76 pensioners currently in Scotland's jails - 13 in Dumfries. Several suffer from Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases.

Scotland's prison capacity is 6625 but, with doubling up in cells, the estate can safely cope with an estimated 8000 prisoners. Last week, the prison population reached an all-time high of 8137.

"Every new prisoner crammed into a Scottish prison makes the existing crisis worse," said Dr McLellan. "I very much welcome what the chief executive said. Overcrowding has been causing terrible damage in Scotland's prisons for years and years.

"Now there is just no more room. No-one who has visited an overcrowded prison can possibly maintain that we should be putting more people into prison.

"What we do by putting more people into overcrowded prisons is that we make Scotland less safe."

The design capacity of Dumfries is 179, but yesterday it held 222 inmates.

Dr McLellan said he would back calls to end custodial sentences of one year or less because they do nothing to rehabilitate offenders and raised serious concerns about safety in such overcrowded settings.

"It is surprising that our prisons have been as safe as they have in the past six years because the threat to safety has been very significant," he said. "Overcrowding inevitably puts prisoners and staff under tremendous tension and stress and in that atmosphere, I am not surprised that the chief executive feels that the health and safety of staff and prisoners is at risk.

"When the Scottish Prison Service said that prison sentences of less than a year should be ended, I welcome that. Very short-term prison sentences do nothing to reduce crime. It is not true to say they make the streets safer by removing particular people because as soon as particular individuals are removed, there are others who replace them."

Dr McLellan said he would not advocate the release of elderly prisoners but said it was not a suitable setting and that those suffering from advanced Alzheimer's should, perhaps, be removed.

"Eventually there has to be a dedicated unit somewhere within the prison service with the training of staff and resources and the capacity to make proper provision for the imprisonment of such persons," he said. "Even then, there will come a time when the justice of people who are completely confused and suffering from advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease is called into question.

"In general I am not arguing for elderly prisoners to be released but I am arguing that prison is not designed to cope with their needs and they therefore make huge demands which can inevitably only met at the expense of other prisoners."

Martyn Bettel, the governor at Dumfries, said the prison tried to keep elderly inmates separate and cater for their needs but that overcrowding made that even harder.

"We've got 114% occupancy rate," he said. "Crisis is a strong word but it is quite appropriate."