Jails get £1m soccer pitches... but 1,000 schools don’t even have a playing f ield
CRIMINALS in Scotland’s high-security prisons are to be provided with state-of-theart artificial football pitches – at an estimated cost to taxpayers of £1 million.
Three Scottish jails – home to murderers, rapists and violent thugs – and a young offenders institution are to be fitted with top-of-the-range synthetic sports fields.
Prison outdoor pitches are to be ripped up and replaced with the same 3G synthetic turf used by some professional clubs. It comes as many involved in grassroots football across Scotland struggle to access good quality pitches.
Figures suggest more than 1,000 primary and secondary schools north of the Border do not have any outdoor sporting facilities at all.
Last night, politicians and campaigners said it was ‘outrageous’ that public cash was being spent on top-end facilities for criminals, while children and law-abiding amateur footballers go without.
David Hines, founder of the National Victims Association, said: ‘Scottish taxpayers will be outraged.
‘They are told by the Government there is no money available for services and then they’re seeing money being poured into things that benefit criminals. It is totally unacceptable. These people do not deserve this – they are in prison for a reason.
Liam Kerr, Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, said: ‘While it’s extremely important that all prisoners have access to fitness facilities, it is much more important that children at school have access to sports pitches.
‘This kind of investment seems ridiculously high. Many people will be concerned at the process by which prisoners are prioritised over children.
‘If the SNP is serious about tackling childhood obesity, surely the priority must be pitches for children; the SNP must think again.’ Last week, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) advertised for companies to remove and install sports facilities at Perth, Glenochil, and Shotts jails, as well as Polmont Young Offenders Institution.
The SPS refused to disclose how much is being spent on the project and also declined to say how many pitches were at each prison, or what size they were.
However, two companies which install artificial pitches told the Scottish Mail on Sunday that the average cost of installing a 3G synthetic football field for seven-a-side games is around £200,000 each plus VAT.
This means that the total cost to taxpayers of the SPS project is likely to be around £1million.
Sportscotland, the national agency for sport, last year revealed that 1,040 schools – equating to 43 per cent of primaries, eight per cent of secondaries and 77 per cent of schools for those with additional support needs – do not have outdoor facilities.
Last night, a spokesman for the Scottish Government said: ‘Since 2007, sportscotland has invested £168 million to help deliver new and upgraded sports facilities, while CashBack has invested more than £11.3 million funding seized from criminals in state-of-theart football, rugby and other community sporting facilities across Scotland.
‘Our investment in school sport has seen an increase in schools providing two hours of PE per week from less than 10 per cent in 2004 to 98 per cent in 2016.
‘This is backed up by £50 million investment in the Active Schools programme.’
A spokesman for the SPS said: ‘Encouraging people to have a healthier lifestyle is an important part of rehabilitation and helping people on their road to recovery.
‘Health and wellbeing is an important part of what we are encouraging people to do.’