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United Kingdom · East Ayrshire
HM Prison Kilmarnock
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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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 Kilmarnock
Step-by-step guidance using the United Kingdom system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
Gallery
From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).
Photo by Mary and Angus Hogg via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Photo by Angela Mudge via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Photo by Darrin Antrobus via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Background
HM Prison Kilmarnock is a prison in Bowhouse, Hurlford near Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is situated 3 miles (5 km) south-east of Hurlford on the Mauchline Road. Its location means it is locally known as Bowhouse Prison. The prison was opened 25 March 1999 by Premier Prison Services and was privately run by Serco (who acquired Premier in 2002) until the expiry of their contract in March 2024 at which point the Scottish Prison Service took over direct management of the prison. In 2005 the BBC program Panorama uncovered several failings in the operational running of the prison, resulting in the prison carrying out internal investigations.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
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Current population
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Occupancy
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Year opened
1999
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 29 May 2026 · methodology
Facility profile
Operator
Serco GroupPopulation held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
1999
Region
East Ayrshire
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
Data completeness
20%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata (Q5635209)
- Wikipedia
- Wikimedia Commons
- 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 Kilmarnock. Retrieved July 24, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hm-prison-kilmarnock
Chicago
"HM Prison Kilmarnock." World Prisons. Accessed July 24, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hm-prison-kilmarnock.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-hm-prison-kilmarnock,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {HM Prison Kilmarnock},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hm-prison-kilmarnock},
urldate = {2026-07-24}
}