Outgoing jails watchdog pleads for a clampdown on smuggling
Scotland’s jails watchdog believes going to prison has become the “default position” for families in some areas across Scotland.
Brigadier Hugh Monro, the outgoing Chief Inspector of Prisons, has spent the last four years investigating the “revolving door of re-offending” and insists the cost to the taxpayer will continue to rise unless action is taken.
In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with The Sunday Post, the career soldier also called for the prison service to invest in airport style full-body scanners to halt the smuggling of contraband.
Brig Monro revealed: “I’ve seen prisoners who are second, third, even fourth generation.
“It’s accepted that time behind bars is what some families do, and when I’ve asked prisoners to explain why, they’ve often told me their families just don’t work.
“As a result the revolving door of re-offending is often not just about a prisoner, but a whole family.
“Prison has become the default position for various postcodes in this country. We have to break that cycle.
“If we don’t deal with the situation we’ll just keep paying to put people in prison.”
Over the past 12 months a spate of sneering prisoners, including Kriss Donald’s race hate killer, Imran Shahid, have taunted their victims’ families by posting pictures of themselves on the internet using smuggled mobile phones.
The Brigadier, who spent 36 years in the army, believes full- body scanners should be brought in to stem the flow of contraband.
He insisted: “Prisoners shouldn’t be able to publicise themselves while behind bars. It’s quite wrong.
“The ease with which phones and drugs were getting into prison was one of the issues I was most disgruntled about when I first took the role, and I thought it would be simple to deal with.
“But it’s a complicated situation. We need to advance the technical response. The modern technology we see at airports is precisely what is needed.”
The Scottish Prison Service has also come under fire for providing cushy living conditions for lags behind bars.
But Brigadier Monro is adamant prisoners are not living in luxury.
He added: “Perhaps when I took this role on I had a degree of sympathy for the view that a soft touch approach existed.
“The very fact you are losing your liberty is the punishment.
“Some people think prison has become a four star hotel. I can assure you it has not.
“If you are the victim of a crime of course you want to see punishment, but you also want to be sure that when the perpetrator comes out they don’t do the same thing again. That would be awful for the victim.”
The Chief Inspector’s role is to monitor the conditions in prisons and the treatment of inmates. Scotland currently has 16 prisons with a total population of around 8,000, costing just over £31,000 a year for each prisoner.
In just over a week, Brig Monro will deliver his fourth and final annual report on the state of Scotland’s prisons.
He added: “The number one issue is to stop people going to prison in the first place.
“Whatever your postcode, young people should have the same chance for success.
“I see far too many people from areas of risk who are failing at school, have failed in the community and there is almost an inevitability that they will get into trouble.
“They’ll end up trafficking drugs or drinking too much, which leads them to Polmont Young Offenders Institute.
“Once you reach that level it is very difficult to get out of the prison system.”
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