‘Pop up jail’ opens as court shuts

A “POP-UP prison” is being used to house potentially dangerous criminals, The Sunday Post can reveal.

The portable cabin at Forfar Sheriff Court was erected just months after neighbouring Arbroath Sheriff Court was closed and its cases were added to the pile across Angus.

It includes five jail cells and will stay in use until at least 2018, by which point it will have been housing those accused of breaking the law for three years.

Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr said: “This raises all kinds of issues around safety, and calls into question the Scottish Government’s whole approach to court closures.

“The timings here seem pretty clear – a sheriff court closed, then the one nearby which was left to take on extra cases suddenly required a portable cabin.

“People will be extremely annoyed that the SNP’s rash decision to close courts across Scotland has resulted in pop-up prisons being installed elsewhere.”

The temporary structure is one of 33 such buildings currently in use across the police, courts, and prison services system in Scotland.

As well as the custody rooms, it contains an office, a meeting room and two toilets.

The Scottish Courts Service last night said the portable cabin was used for overflow cases, while Scottish Government sources insisted it was secure and not “the type that comes to mind to when you hear portable cabin.”

A spokesman said: “The decision to introduce the Titan cell unit at Forfar Sheriff Court was taken to improve capacity at the court on its busiest days and accommodate a greater segregation of those in custody.