Drugs are seized in Scottish jails almost five times a day on average, according to official figures. This report from the BBC.
There were 2,122 cases of drugs being discovered in prisons from January 2008 to March 2009. Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie said the problem had doubled in five years, with jails now “awash” with drugs. The Scottish Government said it had a “zero tolerance” attitude to drug use and was working to limit supply …
Ms Goldie said: “It is nothing short of incredible that the number of drug finds in our prisons has more than doubled in less than five years. In 2003 there was an average of 2.3 drug finds per day. For the past few years that figure has more than doubled. It is unacceptable and it appears that Scotland’s prisons are now awash with drugs.” The Conservatives have called for every prison to have a drug-free wing where inmates can go to when they want to come off drugs. “We should be helping prisoners get off drugs, rather than providing an environment for drugs to flourish,” Miss Goldie said.
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Scotland’s head of prisons has told ministers the country’s overcrowded prisons are in a state of “emergency” and has called for a cap on the number of people behind bars and Scandinavian-style alternatives to imprisonment for minor offenders.
Mike Ewart, the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, spoke out after the nation’s prison population last week hit a record high of 8,137. Scotland’s eight prisons are designed to hold a maximum of 6,625 people. Ewart said the service had reached a point where the prison population has exceeded design capacity and the level at which it is safe to operate. He said: “The risk has become unacceptable. I would be derelict in my duties if I had not let ministers know, but I could not divulge what ministerial advice has been given. It is an emergency. We are legally required to take every prisoner we are sent but we are over design capacity and over the safe legal limits. What we are doing is putting Scotland at risk.”
Ewart is understood to have sought legal advice on his two conflicting duties, to look after every prisoner in his care and to lock up everybody given a custodial sentence. There is some concern in the prison service that jails are now so overcrowded they could be subjected to a legal challenge on health and safety grounds. The exact legal threshold for prison numbers has never been tested in court.
Ewart said: “We need a cap on the prisoner numbers in the longer term. The evidence from other European jurisdictions shows that this is what they have done to move away from excessively high prison populations. We need to be able to say, when we are full, we are full. We are not safer locking these people up. It is a pernicious lie to say this is about community respite. Putting more people in prison actually makes us less safe. Having reached this level, which is unsafe operationally and legally, I have to speak out.”
More details from The Scotsman.
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- In Maricopa County AZ, Sheriff Joe says that 20% of his 10,000 inmates are illegal aliens.
- Scotland’s 6,600 prison capacity now holds over 8,000 inmates.
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After the Scottish Justice Committee threw out plans to increase home detention, the Minister responsible declared that the system is just “one troubled football match” away from a complete meltdown.
[The Minister Kenneth MacAskill] insists the move is vital to stop the prison population reaching crisis levels. It is now more than 8000, including 330 on curfews. MacAskill has called on MSPs to back the plan when it comes before the full parliament this week. He said: “Last month, prison population records were broken 25 times. “The Governor [warden] of Barlinnie is clear that within months he will simply be unable to take any further prisoners.”
However, the senior opposition politician notes:
“MacAskill had the opportunity to come to the justice committee with details of increased risk assessments but came with nothing. He failed to give either MSPs or the general public the reassurances they expect over home detention curfews. He appears to have lost control of the prison system and his stop-gap methods are not fooling anyone.”
Read more about this developing situation at The Sunday Mail.
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