Prisons crisis continues whilst cells remain empty
As Scotland's prisons are officially in crisis it has emerged that HMP Kilmarnock has 48 spares places that are not being occupied.
The prison has a capacity of 692 but there are currently only 644 prisoners in the facility.
The private prison run by SERCO has availability but the facility is being under-utilised. Scottish Labour insists that this raises serious questions about the reasons why this capacity is not being used.
Reports in Sunday's newspapers also highlight the staff shortages that are stopping more places being used across the prison estate. Staff shortages at Barlinnie have seen up to 400 places not being used and the Sex Offenders Treatment Programme at Peterhead prison has been affected with sex offenders not getting any pre-release treatment.
Scottish Labour’s Justice spokesman Richard Baker said:
"In a week when we've seen the head of the Scottish Prison Service tell MSPs that the prison system is in crisis, we can clearly see that is spare capacity at HMP Kilmarnock. Kenny MacAskill 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 and rightly concerned that the SNP are potentially putting public safety at stake.
"Prisons are not just about cells they are clearly about staff. SPS staff are committed professionals but there is obviously not enough of them to deal with the number of prisoners they have to deal with.
"For prisoners to get their meals, recreation time and prescriptions it takes the right number of staff to ensure that the process is done safely.
"Kenny MacAskill knows that the sex offender treatment programme at Peterhead prison is not be used by a number of sex offenders due to staff shortages and sex offenders are leaving that establishment and being released into the community without treatment.
"Mr MacAskill's inaction is putting the public at risk and is causing genuine concerns in our prison system."
5/10/8
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