Scottish Government putting politics before public safety

Community has called out the Scottish Government for putting political dogma before public safety following comments made this week by the head of the Scottish Prison Service. In a televised interview which aired last night, SPS Chief Executive Teresa Medhurst said that Scottish prisons “cannot take any more” inmates, and suggested that prisoners would either need to be turned away, or the government would need to use emergency powers to release prisoners early.

Community Union’s Regional Secretary for Scotland Steve Farrell said:

“The comments made by the head of the Scottish Prison service this week were incredibly alarming, but won’t have come as any surprise to frontline prison officers and custodial staff who see everyday how the system is at breaking point. They are the ones bearing the brunt of a crisis made in Holyrood.

“Responsibility for this chaos lies squarely with an SNP administration which has continues to put political dogma ahead of public safety. We know that just months ago, the Scottish Government received an offer from Serco to build a state-of-the-art, 300 bed facility, with the company willing to shoulder all the costs. The offer – which would have eased pressures – was rejected purely on ideological grounds. The debate about private prisons versus public prisons is completely irrelevant here: it’s about the very real and pressing needs of a justice system in crisis which are being ignored while ministers deliberately look the other way.

“It’s clear now that prison officers and the Scottish public are being put at risk by the policies of a chaos-ridden SNP administration with its head completely in the sand. That’s unacceptable to our members in the sector and an entire nation which deserves much better.”

Community is the union for justice and custodial sector workers, representing thousands of members whose work is vital to our justice system and to public safety. Our members work for a range of organisations in the sector. We represent workers at private prisons, secure immigration centres, young offender institutions, courts, in prisoner escorting and much more. We are a modern trade union, campaigning for a better working world.