Hansard

The Convener SNP

Item 4 on the agenda is a report on our prison visits. Members have visited Barlinnie, Edinburgh, Inverness, Low Moss, Perth and Polmont over the past two we...

John Finnie Ind

We were made welcome. A lot of positive work is going on in Inverness. The issues include the limitations caused by the building’s construction and the conse...

The Convener SNP

Perhaps later we can ask why the women’s unit is so successful. That is interesting.Colin Keir and David McLetchie both went to Saughton. It is HMP Edinburgh...

David McLetchie (Lothian) (Con) Con

The prisoners’ work programme has limitations, many of which are to do with the significant number of relatively short-stay prisoners, in that it is harder t...

Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP

I agree. We saw some impressive work activities, such as portable appliance testing and woodwork, but there are fundamental problems, particularly with the s...

The Convener SNP

Your report mentions internet restrictions and states that internet access for educational purposes is provided successfully elsewhere in the United Kingdom....

Colin Keir SNP

From what I remember of the conversation that we had on that, the issue is about where to draw the line. Allowing internet access for educational purposes is...

The Convener SNP

Alison McInnes and I visited Polmont.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD) LD

The visit was interesting and we were made very welcome. We had a good time exploring a number of things. There are particular challenges for a young offende...

The Convener SNP

I will add a couple of points to that. I accept the difficulties about internet-based learning and I agree with Alison McInnes about what I call education by...

Graeme Pearson Lab

I attended Low Moss last week. It is a very modern prison; it will be a year old next month. It has 700 prisoners, which is just about full to capacity. Ther...

The Convener SNP

Does “Education attendance” mean formally sitting down to learn to read, write and count, or does it include—as I think it should—applied education?

Graeme Pearson Lab

I think that the education includes all sorts of things. There may be a softness to it, in that prisoners who merely attend and show an interest will be incl...

The Convener SNP

Sandra, do you want to tell us about your visit to Barlinnie? You went to the Bar-L.

Sandra White (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP) SNP

Yes—I think that is what they called it when we walked in. It was very interesting—

The Convener SNP

You got a hat out of it.

Sandra White SNP

I got a hat and a mug—the clerk got a mug as well—which you cannot buy. Perhaps in later years the mug might appear as an heirloom on the “Antiques Roadshow”...

The Convener SNP

I am conscious, having done it myself, that we have been speaking about purposeful activity, which is a spectrum of activities including activities to addres...

Sandra White SNP

We should raise that point as we proceed with our inquiry. In Barlinnie, a number of the prisoners who took part in courses were able to get Scottish vocatio...

The Convener SNP

Do employers go into Barlinnie?

Sandra White SNP

Martin Plant Hire employs a number of prisoners; they do not use an apprenticeship process, but the prisoners work there. Various other companies are involve...

The Convener SNP

You, too, had experience of the Bike Station, Alison.

Alison McInnes LD

Yes.

The Convener SNP

Do we know whether the people got jobs at the end of it?

Alison McInnes LD

I think that one person was employed at the Bike Station after they had left prison.

The Convener SNP

Roddy—you were at Perth prison.

Roderick Campbell SNP

Yes. I will try to be brief, as a lot of the points have already been covered. I was impressed by the governor and his staff, including the deputy governor, ...

The Convener SNP

I thank members for that.I suspend the meeting briefly to allow Colin McConnell to take his place so that members can ask questions in our purposeful activit...