Scottish jails at bursting point

The Scottish Conservative leader has accused Alex Salmond of glossing over shortages in capacity at Scottish prisons at First Minister's Questions.

Annabel Goldie said the First Minister has no back up plan in the event of a loss of accommodation at one of Scotland’s jails, and said the consequences would lead to early prisoner release.

Ms Goldie said: “I spoke to the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and he said, ‘There is no contingency plan. There is no spare capacity in the system to absorb the loss of accommodation. The only option is an emergency release of prisoners.’

“In other words, if an emergency hits one of our prisons and hundreds of places are lost, hundreds of prisoners will be released into the community. That is the first minister's plan B and it’s not acceptable.”

The First Minister defended his party’s action and pointed out the Conservative’s role in the current over-crowding problems.

“Operational contingency plans are indeed in place. The first actions of this government were to sanction the building of three prisons in Scotland; contrasting with 17 years of Conservative government when not a single prison was built.”

Mr Salmond repeatedly pointed out that figures published last week showed overall crime was at its lowest level in 25 years, while urging the parliament to support a search for alternative solutions to prison.

"Ultimately and fundamentally we have got to find better disposals and ways of dealing with crime than locking up people for short sentences," he said.

According to a recent report on Scottish prisons chaired by ex-first minister Henry McLeish, Scotland has the fourth highest imprisonment rates in Europe. The commission also found that there are over 7,000 inmates in Scottish jails – up 19 per cent from ten years before.