Deaths in Scottish prisons have reached record levels in the last three years and only a fraction of the number were as a result of COVID-19, say researchers from the University of Glasgow.
In their report the team, led by Sarah Armstrong, a professor of criminology, found there had been 121 deaths in jails in Scotland between January 2020 and September 2022, up from 98 in the period between January 2017 and December 2019.
While 15 of the deaths were related to COVID-19, 29 were suspected or confirmed suicides, 25 were linked to drugs, and 42 were attributed to medical conditions.
Two of those who died had been murdered and eight of the deaths are as yet unclassified….