Women's prison scrapped after £8m 'wasted' on doomed project

The U-turn came after £7.8m had already been spent on acquiring the Greenock site where the 300-capacity prison would have been built, as well as demolition and enabling works. Sources at the Scottish Prison Service said they did not know what the land would now be used for, but were preparing for discussions with ministers over the issue.

Only weeks ago, former Cornton Vale governor Kate Donegan unveiled artists' impressions of how the new facility, which was set to open in 2017, would look and said the prison would be a "beacon" to be copied around the world.

However, opposition MSPs and penal reform campaigners had called for the project to be abandoned, pointing to an increase in the number of females being jailed and evidence that locking women up could be counter-productive, often having a devastating impact on their families. While they welcomed the move, questions were raised over the amount of taxpayers' cash that had been ploughed in to the facility.

Ministers are to instead look at building smaller regional and community-based custodial facilities across the country. Mr Matheson made the announcement as he visited a specialist centre in Glasgow that aims to prevent reoffending by offering women support for problems such addiction, and mental and physical health issues.

He said: "Whilst it is for the courts to decide who receives a custodial sentence, I believe that too many low level female offenders are sent to prison. I want to take a new approach in dealing with these types of offenders and provide them with the best possible support to help turn their lives around."

Mr Matheson, whom Nicola Sturgeon appointed Justice Secretary to replace Kenny MacAskill, said the new approach would be more closely aligned with the vision set out by Dame Elish Angiolini, the former Lord Advocate, who published a 2012 report on female offending. She said there should be a smaller, specialist prison for long-term and high-risk prisoners, as well as regional units to hold those serving shorter sentences and those on remand.

Mr Matheson added: "We know that women offenders are far less likely to be a danger to the public compared with men. We also know that the families and children of female offenders are more likely to go off the rails and offend themselves if mothers are jailed miles away from home. This turns into a vicious circle, affecting future generations, and is doing nothing to address reoffending."

Labour leader Jim Murphy had called for the project to be scrapped earlier this month. His party welcomed the U-turn, as did the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

John Scott QC, convenor of the Howard League for Penal Reform in Scotland, praised Mr Matheson for taking what he described as "a bold decision".

He added: "In deciding not to proceed with the proposal to build a new women's prison at Inverclyde, the Cabinet Secretary is opening up the potential for greater use of community-based solutions for women who offend and women who are at risk of offending. This will benefit all of us.

"By dealing appropriately and effectively with this vulnerable group of women, Scotland will be a safer place."

However, Scottish Conservatives criticised the Government for spending millions of pounds on a project it initiated in 2012 only to abandon it.

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: "The Scottish Government have some serious questions to answer over wasting nearly £8 million pounds of taxpayers' money on a project that was beset with controversy from the start." The Scottish Government have failed to clearly lay out their strategy for tackling female offenders which begs the question why the project was given the go ahead to begin with.

"Last week when I asked the First Minister about the Greenock project I was given an evasive answer. Announcements like this must be made in parliament under the full scrutiny of elected officials otherwise the SNP stand accused of trying to brush this latest U-turn under the carpet."