Anger over plans to abolish independent jail monitors
SCOTLAND’S prison visiting committees have warned that plans to replace them with an advocacy service run by a government department would make the country comparable to a “South American dictatorship”.
SCOTLAND’S prison visiting committees have warned that plans to replace them with an advocacy service run by a government department would make the country comparable to a “South American dictatorship”.
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Stephen Naysmith Lucy Adams Chief Reporter
More than 15 months after a consultation into the future of the committees began, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has written to members to explain they will be disbanded early next year.
The move comes despite a Scottish Government review which suggested the committees played an important role in monitoring and providing independent analysis of prison and prisoner conditions.
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