A new women’s unit is to be set up at the State Hospital at Carstairs after calls by human rights campaigners.

In an exclusive interview, Justice Secretary Angela Constance told The Herald Maree Todd, the Minister for Mental Wellbeing, had met relevant health board chief executives to discuss the proposals.

The revelation comes weeks after a report by the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) criticised the Scottish government’s failure to set up a specialised high-secure psychiatric unit for women in Scotland, despite agreeing to it three years ago.

The State Hospital at Carstairs is currently all-male, so female prisoners with specialist mental healthcare needs are sent hundreds of miles away to Rampton high-security hospital in Nottinghamshire.

Read more: Angela Constance on early release and youth detention

A previous review commissioned by the Scottish government, and led by Derek Barron, Director of Care at Erskine, branded the practice “indefensible”. Barron called for women to be admitted to Carstairs within nine months of his report’s publication in February 2021.

Earlier this year, the family of Michele Rutherford, a care worker stabbed to death in March 2023, also demanded immediate action. Kellyanne McNaughton killed Rutherford at her supported accommodation in Stirling after numerous failed attempts to get her psychiatric help.

McNaughton’s sentencing was initially postponed as there was no suitable secure hospital available for her in Scotland. It was later confirmed she was being treated at the Priory Hospital Llanarth Court, a medium-risk facility in Wales.

The setting up of a female unit at the State Hospital at Carstairs was also recently discussed by the Cross-Portfolio Ministerial Group on Prisoner Health & Social Care.

Constance told The Herald: “Whilst work is at a very early stage, we are committed to working with health boards to improve the access for women to forensic service and we will continue to do this as the longer-term proposition at the State Hospital is developed.”

Hannah Graham, senior lecturer in criminology at Stirling University and associate director of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, said: “Having to travel to Nottinghamshire affects women’s human rights to a family and private life. It’s good that this is finally underway, but it could have happened a lot sooner.”

The Justice Secretary also revealed the length of time prisoners can be held on remand would be restored to pre-Covid levels via a forthcoming Criminal Justice Modernisation Bill.

The extension has led to some prisoners spending up to two years in jail before their cases are heard.

The new Bill is mostly aimed at enshrining those temporary justice measures in the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 which may deliver significant longer term benefits. These include enabling virtual attendance at court.