EXERCISE LARD
Overweight inmates get £4k mobility scooters to navigate jail
OVERWEIGHT jailbirds are using mobility scooters costing up to £8,000 – paid for by you.
The scandal at a nick renowned for extra large lags was revealed in a prison watchdog’s report.
It also claimed some cells were too small for ballooning inmates who are allowed to put in catalogue orders for special 5XL clothing – around a 56in waist – and “large size” footwear.
And despite the obesity problem at HMP North Sea Camp – nicknamed North Sea Holiday Camp – convicts do more than porridge.
They can have a full 1,000 calorie English breakfast every day of the week – including sausages and bacon from 300 pigs hand-reared on the open prison’s own 200-acre farm.
CURRY
The jail kitchen also runs curry and Chinese theme nights.
The report last week by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) focused on the necessity of bariatric scooters at the Lincolnshire jail with a population almost two thirds sex offenders.
Models capable of carrying prisoners up to 65 stone can cost up to £8,000 each and have extra wide seats.
Cheaper versions include £4,000 ones for users up to 40st, and £2,000 scooters for people weighing up to 25st.
A source said: “Obesity is a problem in prison, just as it is on the outside.
“We are dealing with bigger men than ever, and things have got so bad that for some inmates this is the only option to keep them mobile.”
But the report hinted that maybe taxpayers money might also have to be spent on renovation work at the jail to accommodate the growing number of bigger prisoners among its population of just over 400.
It found turning circles of the scooters are sometimes “too tight” for inmates to access all areas. The report states motor scooters can’t get into the library, education unit, the Prisoner Advice Centre, resident induction unit, some work areas and parts of the healthcare department because of doors “too narrow” and ramps “too steep”.
More expensive bariatric scooters have much better turning circles because of a wider wheelbase.
They have 14-inch tyres and extrawide seats, along with a top speed of between 8-15mph.
The IMB report also cited the case of one obese prisoner who arrived from another jail last year – and needed a “special bed and mattress” as well as a wheelchair and a mobility scooter.