Justice 1 Committee, 10 Dec 2003
Meeting date: Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Official Report
223KB pdf
HM Prison Kilmarnock
Do Stewart Maxwell and Margaret Mitchell have brief comments on their visit to HM Prison Kilmarnock?
I saw some good practice at the prison. Rather than have a governor, the prison has a director, because it is privately run. That means that the Scottish Prison Service monitors the prison's operation. The director and Premier Prison Services are involved in the prison's day-to-day running and an independent and objective person monitors operations; that is a good system, instead of having the prison service monitoring the prison service. That was positive.
The atmosphere throughout the jail is good. As the prison is new build, it incorporates certain features. For example, unlike older establishments, the roof space allows no possibility for prisoners to go up there with hostages or to demonstrate.
Another good practical policy was a committee involving the director, some of the wardens and the prisoners' representatives, at which any points that the prisoners wanted to put to the management were discussed. The meeting was videoed and the video was then played throughout the prison. There was very much a sense of ownership and everybody felt that they were participating in the decision-making process. The committee helped the prisoners to understand that, although some things could be resolved immediately, other things took a little bit longer. That all worked to create good relations.
On the whole, the visit was useful and I was very impressed by what I saw.
I agree with some of Margaret Mitchell's comments. The joint committee that sat in the prison was a good idea, but that happens in other Scottish prisons, not just in Kilmarnock. I was impressed by a lot of the prison's features, but many of them were down to the fact that the prison is new build. It did not matter whether it was in the public or the private sector; the fact that it was new build on a new design meant that we were not dealing with a crumbling Victorian building. That impression sometimes colours one's judgment when one is visiting some of the older prisons.
Nevertheless, some of the facilities were a bit cramped in comparison with those at other prisons that we have visited, especially HMP Greenock. Some of the rooms for education were very small, as was the art room, and the cells were quite small. We saw only one cell that had a single prisoner in it, but we were told that prisoners often double up in such cells. I also thought that the cells for two prisoners were exceptionally small and that the living conditions could be quite problematic. Even though the facilities were modern and the prisoners had televisions and in-cell toilets, I felt that the space that was provided was quite small.
My overall feeling was that the building was a little bit cramped in general, aside from the rooms that I have mentioned, and that the number of staff on duty was quite low. That fact was mentioned by some of the controllers who operate in the centre of a four-wing block. The block is effectively closed down at night and there are no more than one or two warders patrolling it. In the light of our discussions on cost comparisons between the private and public sectors, I wondered whether the prison was driving down costs by driving down the number of staff on duty. While everything runs well, that is fine; however, if things were to go wrong, that would be a serious concern.
I was slightly concerned about the training that the staff receive and the opportunities for staff development. I spoke to several prison officers, who seemed to come from a variety of backgrounds that were not particularly related to security or the prison service. There is nothing wrong with bringing in people from other organisations: that was not the issue. However, I was concerned that the prison staff as a whole had little background expertise and knowledge, as people had come from outside organisations and did not have much experience or receive the training that we would hope that they would receive within the Scottish Prison Service.
I had some concerns about the prison. My overall feeling was that, although we can learn a lot from new build, the prison was rather cramped and I was concerned about the number of prison officers who were on duty at certain times.
Okay. Thank you for your observations. I presume that the committee will get a full written report on that visit.
An informal meeting with Lord Bonomy has been arranged for Monday 15 December at the High Court in Glasgow at 4.30. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 17 December in committee room 1, at which we will take evidence on the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill from the Scottish Human Rights Centre, Professor Peter Duff and the Scottish Legal Aid Board. I ask members to note that the final visit on our programme of prison visits will take place on 26 January and will be to HMYOI Polmont. Members will receive an e-mail, inviting them to take part in that visit, should they so wish.
I thank members for their attendance today. I am sorry that it has been so cold. I thank Dougie Thornton for providing a heater for the latter half of the meeting.
Meeting closed at 12:59.