| 15
June 1995 |
| To
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Scotland |
| Sir, |
| I
have the honour to submit the fourteenth Annual Report of
HM Chief Inspect or of Prisons for Scotland. |
| I
have the honour to be |
| Sir, |
| Your
Obedient Servant |
| C
B FAIRWEATHER OBE |
| HM
Chief Inspector of Prisons |
| for
Scotland |
| |
| Foreword
by the Secretary of State |
| I
am grateful to Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
for his Annual Report for 1994-95. |
| The
report makes no formal recommendation but I welcome the
acknowledgement that the Scottish Prison Service is
meeting its objectives, and of the work that is being
done to challenge prisoners to address their offending
behaviour. Prisons exist for punishment, but they also
have an important contribution to make to reducing
re-offending by engaging prisoners in rehabilitation
programmes and purposeful work. |
| I
agree with the Chief Inspector's comment that a good
prison will ensure that prisoners have work to do and
that they do not idle for long periods of the day. While
it is encouraging that half of the output of prison
workshops in Scotland is for commercial companies, I
would like to see private sector involvement in prison
industries, with scope for prisoners to earn economic
wages and to gain relevant experience and qualifications
for employment on release. How this might be done will be
addressed in the review of prison industries included in
the Service's recently published Corporate Plan. |
| The
Chief Inspector highlights at some length the continuing
problem of drug abuse. I am determined to tackle this.
Drug abusers need support to enable them to recover from
their addiction, and the Scottish Prison Service has a
number of programmes which aim to provide that. But these
need to be accompanied by the clear message that drug
taking in prison will not be tolerated. I shall therefore
be making use of the powers in the Criminal Justice and
Public Order Act to ensure that a programme of random
mandatory drug testing is introduced to complement the
constructive work that is being done in the context of
reduction and detoxification. |
| Finally,
I wish to pay tribute to Governors, prison officers and
other staff of the Scottish Prison Service. They work
with difficult people in difficult circumstances, and
they deserve credit for the Service's operational success
during the year. |
| The
Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service will
report direct to Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
on the detailed points of note. |
