Scottish Labour's justice spokesman, Richard Baker, MSP, responds to reports Scotland's jails could house hundreds more inmates if so much staff time was not used to issue methadone.
What can be done about this? Surely the prison service cannot simply stop prescribing methadone?We believe it can be part of a balanced treatment programme, and for prisoners with chaotic lives, it's a reasonable tool in an over
all treatment programme.
So if methadone isn't the problem, what is?This is about resources. You have to be able to provide methadone to those who need it, and also have enough staff to utilise all available capacity in our jails. It's not a case of either/or – it's both. The SNP has taken £10 million out of the prisons budget for next year. That should be reinstated.
But what positive measures would Labour take to tackle prison overcrowding?We will outline our plans in due course. The SNP has decided the new jail at Low Moss will not be a PPP scheme. That means about £100 million is coming out of the budget straight off. We are saying if they hadn't decided to do that, there would be more money available to tackle the immediate problem.
But with prisons at bursting point, surely emergency steps are needed?The new prison at Addiewell, West Lothian, is supposed to be finished in December and fully operational in March. Given that it will hold 700 prisoners, we think the prison service should be looking to accelerate that.
Apparently, Scotland's only private prison has 48 spare places that are not being occupied.
Kenny MacAskill (the justice secretary] needs to explain why this facility is being underused. Is it finance or sheer dogma against private prisons? We heard this week that a plan has been hatched for the emergency release of convicts, and yet a prison has nearly 50 spare places available. Members of the public will be shocked at this state of affairs.
The full article contains 330 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
