All prisons
All in United Kingdom →
United Kingdom · Highland
HM Prison Inverness
Low
Verified
Fresh · 2mo ago
Sources last reviewed on
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
How to send mail, money, and visit HM Prison Inverness
Step-by-step guidance using the United Kingdom system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
Background
HM Prison Inverness, also known as Porterfield Prison (Prìosan Uch a' Phortair), is located in the Crown area of Inverness, Scotland, and serves the courts of the Highlands and Islands. It covers all the courts in the Western Isles as well as courts from Fort William, Wick and Elgin. The prison houses both adult and young remand prisoners, convicted adults serving up to four years, and other prisoners awaiting to go to another prison or needing management support, tending to be serving long sentences up to life imprisonment. The prison in October 2024 was governed by Scott Watson; designed to hold 103 prisoners, the average population was 117. Gangster Jimmy Boyle was a notorious prisoner at Porterfield, severely disruptive and often in the "cages" whose only facility was a concrete block to sleep on.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
103
Current population
—
Occupancy
—
Year opened
1902
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 28 May 2026 · methodology
Facility profile
Operator
Scottish Prison ServicePopulation held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
1902
Region
Highland
Security level
—
Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Contact & address
No public contact details available.
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
—
Insufficient data
We don't have enough public data on this facility to score it. Have something to add? Send us a correction.
Related facilities
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
- HMP WandsworthLondonHighLocal159% occupancy
- HMP FranklandDurhamMaximumLocal100% occupancy
- HMP BarlinnieGlasgowHighLocal147% occupancy
- HMP Cookham WoodKentHighLocal
- HMP PentonvilleLondonHighYOI137% occupancy
- HMP StyalWilmslowHighClosed female
Compared to other facilities in United Kingdom
583 peersCapacity (beds)this: 103 · peers avg: 579 (82%)
Data completeness
26%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata (Q17572235)
- Wikipedia
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.
Cite this page
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
APA
World Prisons. (2026). HM Prison Inverness. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hm-prison-inverness
Chicago
"HM Prison Inverness." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hm-prison-inverness.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-hm-prison-inverness,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {HM Prison Inverness},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hm-prison-inverness},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}