HMP’s Castle Huntly and Noranside jointly make up the SPS Open Estate. Both focus on providing employment training and transitional/through-care for prisoners working towards a structured reintegration into society.

Castle Huntly is in Longforgan 3 miles East of Dundee whilst Noranside lies 10 miles North East of Forfar in Angus. Both are open prisons holding low supervision adult male prisoners serving 18 months and over, including life sentence prisoners, who have been assessed as suitable to serve part of their sentence in open conditions. The regimes operated by both establishments though differentiated are also increasingly complementary. Noranside holds a small number of prisoners convicted of sexual offences, while Castle Huntly holds prisoners who require the support of the SPS methadone program

Visiting

Visits take place in the main visit room of the castle building and are booked in advance by prisoners.

No visits passes are issued.

Prisoners are entitled to one weekend visit per fortnight, either on a Saturday or Sunday, as well as one midweek visit per week. If there are spaces available then prisoners can book extra visits, there are no extra visits at weekends.

It is prisoners' responsibility to book visits and inform their visitors. Disabled visitors can taken their visits in the Bruce Wing dining hall where there is access to toilet facilities.

Money and property
Money can be handed into the staff on duty at the visits. Items of property may be handed in for the prisoner's personal use. A pro forma must be obtained and handed in along with the property - this will be sent out by the prisoner. Only items listed on the pro forma will be accepted.

Money and property must be handed in before the start of the visit. Visitors should ensure that they obtain a receipt.

Family contact development officer
Every establishment now has a FCDO, who will be able to assist with any enquiries visitors may have. At Castle Huntly, the FCDO's are Supervisors K Kelly and D Gourlay. If they are not on duty, visitors should feel free to talk to any member of staff.

SACRO also co-ordinates Family Support Groups in various locations throughout Scotland. Please contact Margaret McTaggart on 0141 248 1763.

For details of the Prisoners' Family Support Group in Dundee call 01382 506 147 (office hours) or 01382 507 141 (evenings).

For information on prison visits, transport to prison, welfare benefits, prison regime, Family Support Groups or how to get help locally, contact the Prisoners' Families Information Line on 050 839 383.

Visiting times: Saturday & Sunday: 10.30 - 15.30; Monday to Friday: 18.45 and 20.30 pm.
Toilets and baby changing facilities are available in the visit room.

Situated to the west of Dundee, the establishment is close to the village of Longforgan on the A90 trunk road between Perth and Dundee. The Castle itself, was built in 1452 and was purchased as a borstal in 1947. The Castle now houses the management and administrative support staff as well as housing the prison visits and social work.

Programs and Activities

The Open Estate has recently started to deliver the first, in what will become an expanding repertoire of SPS Approved Activities and programs for prisoners. The principal aim is to further enhance work already carried out within closed prisons and by relapse prevention courses or Activity/Programme refreshers. In addition to this, it is planned to offer life skills courses to those prisoners who demonstrate a need and in particular to those who have spent a considerable time in custody.

Employment Skills

The current range of work offered within the Estate is progressively changing in order to offer real skills to prisoners. Although we shall continue to capitalize on the opportunities and resources we have in place, the emphasis will change from traditional forms of employment and labour schemes to opportunity related employability training and certification. Much more use of instructor’s time will be devoted to helping prisoners achieve certification in transferable skills. These may include retail training, painting and decorating, forestry and general horticulture and construction and related skills. The Open Estate is committed to forging meaningful and productive links with external partnership organisations to develop training and work experience opportunities that are relevant to the needs of prisoners and employers in the community.

Use of External Placements

We currently operate with a wide range of partner organisations who offer prisoners the chance of employment or education within the community; this is applicable for prisoners at either site. In the ethos of offering real employability skills we are continuing to seek further opportunities to expand this programme and offer real work experience to a greater number of prisoners.

Community Links

Both Establishments work hard to promote the positive image of the SPS, it’s staff and the prisoners in its' care. HMCIP report on the Open Estate (Dec 2002) listed more than 40 instances of community assistance work carried out by prisoners and staff of Castle Huntly. This work has ranged from the renovation of the grounds of a local war memorial to the redecoration of the premises used by community groups in Dundee. Noranside carries out similar work within the Angus area. Not only does this work give project teams valuable work experience, but makes positive links with our local communities.