Current status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 December 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) procedures are in place for identifying and dealing with, and (b) facilities are available for dealing with and working with any prisoners who have autistic spectrum disorder.
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:The SPS operates a system of induction and sentence management for prisoners. This, together with the health checks carried out on admission, aims to identify prisoners with serious problems as a result of, for example, autism. Education staff working in prisons draw up individual learning plans for and with prisoners. A diagnosis of autism would result in particular care being taken to engage the learner appropriately.