£110,000 prison-cell safes’ plan under f ire

INMATES at Scotland’s newest prison will each be supplied with a personal safe in an attempt to prevent theft, The Scotsman has learned.

Prison chiefs have come under fire over plans to install some 530 safes at HMP Grampian at a cost of around £110,000 to the taxpayer.

The £140 million “super-jail” will replace the ageing Victorian HMP Peterhead and HMP Craiginches in Aberdeen.

At present, most existing facilities in Scotland have lockers or locked cupboards, and critics claim costly hotel-style safes are unnecessary for an environment which is intended to be secure.

HMP Grampian has been billed as unique as it will house all types of inmates including men, women and youth offenders, who will be segregated within the jail.

John Lamont MSP, the Scottish Conservative chief whip, said: “Prisoners have to surrender items of any worth when entering jail. Jails seem to have a difficult enough time keeping drugs, phones and weapons out of prisoners’ hands without supplying them with secret storage space.”

A Scottish Prison Service spokeswoman said that the safes were intended to hold personal items, including legal documents, and medication.

She added: “If this privilege is abused, staff take immediate action to investigate.”