Scots justice minister calls for more aid for addicts

Kenny MacAskill says move would cut prison numbers

By jane candlish

Published:

ACTION NEED: Kenny McAskill, left, chats with David Abernethy during his prison visit

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill yesterday said Scotland’s swelling prison population could be reduced if reoffending was curbed by helping drink and drug addicts.

During a visit yesterday to Inverness Prison – once one of the most crowded in the country – Mr MacAskill revealed that the average daily number of prisoners in Scotland last year was 7,835, an increase of 6% on the previous year.

But Mr MacAskill met a former drug addict and former inmate at Inverness who said prisoners need more help when they are released if they are to stop reoffending.

Inverness man Billy MacDonald was one of the prison’s success stories after spending 27 years in and out of prison for minor offences because of his heroin addiction.

Mr MacDonald, 47, of Kinmylies, said that more needed to be done to assist people when they were released from prison.

He completed a number of training courses with Apex, an organisation which aims to get former criminals into work, and now has a job with the Highland Homeless Trust

Mr Macdonald said: “I changed when I got involved in Apex through a drug treatment and testing order.

“I had to look back on my life to see if anything pointed me in that direction, and discovered I enjoyed learning.”

He thought that the Scottish Government’s plans for a minimum price per unit of alcohol would do little to stop people from drinking.

Mr MacAskill was at the prison to hear about the services on offer to help deal with prisoners’ addictions to alcohol and drugs.

He said: “When I hear from the prison service that one in two offenders say they were under influence of alcohol, I know we cannot go on as we are as a country.

“Alcohol abuse is not simply costing our health, it is filling up our prisons.

“Many of those one in two prisoners would not have committed any offence had it not been for abuse of alcohol.

“That is why the government is committed to ensuring we have responsibility over how it is drunk, how it is promoted, but also how it is priced.”

Mr MacAskill added: “There is not one simple solution to change drinking culture. It’s across the board and it’s how it is promoted.”

Inverness Prison governor David Abernethy said: “I am very concerned about reoffending and we do have significant numbers of people coming back to prison.” He added that it was too early to say if their programme was a success.

Labour’s justice spokesman Richard Baker MSP said: “Kenny MacAskill’s soft touch approach is not deterring criminals and his management of the prison estate has been woeful.”