Latest gripe in prison? No Af ter Eights!

IN days gone by they were famously fed lumpy porridge and were thankful for it.

But now Scots prisoners have complained that they did not get any after-dinner mints following their Christmas meals.

Prisoners north of the Border – of which there are around 8,000 in 15 jails – were promised a three-course menu including chicken Balmoral, chicken breast stuffed with haggis and wrapped in pancetta.

Other items on the menu included nut roasts, turkey with cranberry gravy and a choice of desserts, including Black Forest gateau.

Prisoners were also told they would be treated to after-dinner mints to finish the meal.

But in the March edition of prisoners’ magazine Inside Time, they complained that the festive feast was a ‘wash-out’, with one saying it was the ‘worst dinner’ he had ever had in prison.

One prisoner, JP Thomson, said his meal at Barlinnie in Glasgow was ‘uneatable’ and that there was ‘no sign’ of any after-dinner mints.

He wrote that the Christmas dinner sounded ‘a lot better on paper than in real life’, adding, ‘Most of it went into the bin.’

Another, who wrote in anonymously to Inside Time from his cell at Castle Huntly, near Dundee, said: ‘I can’t stop laughing as I’m reading the January issue of Inside Time regarding the “festive feast” we supposedly had here at Castle Huntly.

‘What a pile of p**h. We had a slice of square sausage, overcooked until it had the constituency of rubber.’

Another from HMP Perth, wrote: ‘It was far from lavish, more just about edible. It sounds a lot better than it looked or tasted.’

Another inmate – who said he was ‘recently released’ from prison – commented that there was ‘no haggis in sight’. He wrote: ‘I searched for the haggis, but alas it was not there – or had been burnt to cinders.

‘There certainly wasn’t any whisky sauce to accompany it and the afterdinner mint didn’t materialise in the end.’

Bosses at the Scottish Prison Service said its festive menu was prepared at ‘no extra cost’ and was funded from ‘existing catering budgets’.