News

The number of sexual crimes in Scotland will rise dramatically if the executive goes ahead with its plans to close Peterhead Prison, according to Aberdeenshire council.

Earlier this year, the executive revealed its intention to close Peterhead Prison, and move the 300 sex offenders housed there to prisons in the central belt from where most originate. Aberdeenshire council, where the prison is placed, sought advice from a range of people including the former head of the Scottish Prison Service and an independent firm of accountants.

Peter McKinlay, former chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, said that Peterhead’s world-renowned STOP programme, which works with sex offenders, had taken 10 years to fully establish.

McKinlay said: "I don’t believe that the transfer of the STOP programme to other prisons could be achieved without serious disruption and risk of increased offences."

He has recommended that a new purpose-built unit be created on the present site, which could house Scotland’s estimated 500 imprisoned sex offenders rather than the 300 currently based there.

The council also sought advice from Grant Thornton, an independent accountancy firm, which said that the executive had failed to take into account the full effect of closure on the local economy which they calculate will lose £8 million and 300 jobs.

Opposition political parties have responded to these reports by accusing the executive of failing to take account of all relevant matters and putting savings before public safety. The executive’s plans, which include the closure of two state-run prisons, will produce an estimated saving of £700 million.

But Jim Wallace, justice minister, said: "Peterhead prison is old and dilapidated with no access to night time sanitation. Renovation of the existing prison is not an option though we will look at all other options." The final decision on Peterhead’s future is expected later this summer.

Meanwhile, the numbers of prisoners released on parole under the supervision of social work departments has decreased from 656 in 2000 to 647 in 2001, according to the latest Scottish executive statistical bulletin. The number of mandatory life prisoners applying to government ministers for early release has reduced from 63 to 43 during the same period.

www.scotland.gov.uk