Drug seizures from visitors to Scottish prisons have reached 38 in the first eight months of 2026, surpassing the 34 recorded for all of 2025 and the 31 in 2024, according to figures released by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) under Freedom of Information.
The largest number of drug seizures from visitors in 2026 to date was ten at HMP Addiewell in West Lothian, followed by seven at HMP Edinburgh, five each at Perth and Shotts jails, and four at Glasgow's Barlinnie.
Total seizures since 2023
Across all jails, there have been 153 drug seizures from prison visitors since 2023. The prison with the most drug finds in that time is HMP Edinburgh, also known as Saughton, with 29.
Martin Gallagher, a former police chief who retired at the rank of Superintendent and is now a security consultant, described the figures as concerning and said organised crime groups were almost certainly behind the rise.
"Drugs are a very valuable commodity in prisons, and those introduced through visitors passing them in will be sold on creating debts and violence in their wake," he said. "In addition, with prisoners in their cells for long periods those taking drugs are at more risk of harm because no one sees the effects the drugs are having on them."
Prison officers' concerns
Phil Fairlie, Assistant General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association, said the numbers indicate increased activity by organised crime groups trying to supply an ever-increasing prisoner population.
"For us, the overcrowding is a huge problem, for OCG's they are simply a bigger market to supply and an ever-increasing illegal money-making route," he said. "There are a lot of steps being taken to interrupt and stop the flow by the SPS and staff, and the increase in captures may well be a demonstration of success in that regard."
He added: "But we also know that for every intervention put in place, they very quickly seek another avenue, sometimes resorting back to the old tried and tested methods again for a while, until they in turn become the focus for greater prevention."
Past cases involving professionals
Over the years, visitors caught with drugs have ranged from relatives to professional people like lawyers. In 2006, solicitor Angela Baillie, dubbed Ally McDeal after the TV lawyer Ally McBeal, was jailed for two years and eight months for supplying drugs to a prisoner in Barlinnie. Baillie, 32, from Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, admitted supplying heroin and the tranquiliser diazepam worth around £1,600. At the High Court in Edinburgh, her defence lawyer said she had been coerced into supplying the drugs by a gangland figure and was suffering from a psychiatric illness at the time.
In 2013, another solicitor, David Blair Wilson, was jailed for four years at the High Court in Edinburgh after he was caught trying to smuggle contraband into Saughton. Blair Wilson, 55, from Dunfermline, was stopped by police as he went to visit a prisoner. When his car was searched, they found phones, diazepam tablets and cannabis resin. The following year, he was struck off after a hearing of the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal and told he was "not a fit person" to be a solicitor.
Recent reports have detailed claims that prison staff at Shotts Prison and HMP Addiewell are being forced to smuggle weapons and drugs by thugs linked to the Lyons and Daniel clans. Criminals working for the warring crime families are said to have tracked the vehicles of several SPS employees before following them to their homes and threatening them and their families. Last month, six Shotts prison officers were suspended over allegations that they helped to smuggle drugs and phones into the prison, with five having since been sacked. Shotts has had 15 drug seizures from visitors since 2023.
A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: "The health and wellbeing of those in our care is a key priority. Our staff work hard to keep prisons safe and secure, using all available technology and intelligence to prevent illicit substances and items entering our establishments, including those that may be introduced by visitors. We continue to work with Police Scotland, and other partners, to take action against those who attempt to breach our security."
