SCOTLAND was heading for the most heavily privatised prison service in the world, the Scottish cabinet was warned shortly after the SNP came to power.
Newly released papers from the National Records of Scotland show then Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill delivered the warning to colleagues in a cabinet paper in late June 2007
According to minutes of the meeting, Mr MacAskill put forward proposals for updating the prison estate and asked for agreement on how to run it.
He said that, with 7,246 prisoners in custody, there were “significant problems” with the estate, including rising prisoner numbers, “poor and out of date facilities”, the risk of legal challenges under human rights law, risks from fire or riot, and poor industrial relations.
He said the Scottish Prison Service had been modernising the estate, with new facilities planned to make it fit for future purpose.
Mr MacAskill said HMP Kilmarnock was currently managed by the private sector under contract to Scottish ministers, while HMP Addiewell was under construction by the private sector, and due to open by the end of 2008.
With the SNP opposed to private sector involvement, he said it would be “technically possible” to terminate both contracts, but the cost would be “prohibitive” and so he was "reluctantly recommending that these contractual arrangements should continue”.
In addition, a new prison, HMP Bishopbriggs, was currently under procurement, with only private sector companies bidding for the contract.
It would be possible to halt the tendering process and restart it “as a matter or urgency” in order to allow the private sector to build the prison, but have the public sector run it.
However this would require funding of £80-£100million to cover the capital costs.
Building another prison in North East Scotland was likely to cost a further £80-£100m.
The minutes record: “Mr McAskill said that he saw the decision in relation to HMP Bishopbriggs as a pivotal point in determining the future approach to the operation of the prison estate in Scotland.
“If this new facility were to be operated by the private sector, as currently envisaged, it would bring to 24% the total proportion of prison places in Scotland run by the private sector, the highest such proportion anywhere in the world.
“Thereafter, he was of the view that it would be difficult to adopt an alternative to private sector management of prisons in facilities constructed in future.”
The cabinet agreed to carry on with the HMP Kilmarnock and HMP Addiewell contracts, but decided that “further work was needed, particularly on the financial implications” before a decision could be taken on HMP Bishopbriggs or a new prison in the North East.
Mr MacAskill was asked to discuss the matter more with Finance Secretary John Swinney.
In August, the Justice Secretary cancelled the plan for a privately built and run prison at Low Moss near Bishopbriggs and switched it to privately built and publicly run instead.
The decision required him to issue a rare written direction, accepting responsibility, to senior civil servants who feared it would result in “significant additional expenditure”.
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