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10.31 pm
The Minister of State, Scottish Office (Lord James Douglas-Hamilton): I am glad to respond to the hon. Memer for Greenock and Port Glasgow (Dr. Godman), and glad that he has changed his views about women not being allowed to operate as deckhands to a more politically correct attitude. The Scottish Office also has a good record. The Scottish Prison Service follows an equal opportunities policy, and women recruits are warmly welcomed. There is an increasing number of women in the service, including management posts. Recruitment and promotion are, of course, on merit.
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the opportunity to speak about the work of Greenock prison. I agree that it is a good and well-run prison. I know that he has, for many years, taken a positive interest in its work and in helping to maintain good relations between it and the local community.
The hon. Gentleman raised four issues: persons awaiting deportation, overcrowding, suicides, and the chief inspector's report.
He expressed concern about the use of the prison for the detention of persons awaiting deportation. The Prison Service in Scotland provides a service on behalf of the immigration service to hold in secure custody persons detained under the Immigration Acts. Such people are foreign nationals detected as illegal entrants or overstayers. They are normally held at Greenock, Edinburgh or Aberdeen prison until their deportation orders are served or their cases are otherwise settled. The advantage of Greenock is its close proximity to Glasgow airport.
The average number of persons held in Scottish prisons awaiting deportation is around 12, but it varies from month to month. The maximum number recorded in Greenock prison was 33 in August 1995.
In his recent report on Greenock prison, the chief inspector recommended that the Scottish Prison Service should enter into a dialogue with the immigration service with a view to identifying suitable alternative accommodation for all persons awaiting deportation. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland indicated in his response to that report, the governor has maintained an informal dialogue with immigration service officials about the use made of Greenock to hold persons awaiting deportation.
However, although the persons awaiting deportation add to the pressure on the establishment, their numbers may not be so great as to make provision of a separate purpose-built detention centre a practical proposition. None the less, in the light of the chief inspector's concern, the Scottish Prison Service is discussing that matter further with the immigration service, and the director of custody will meet the director of the immigration service on 10 April. Any separate purpose-built facility would be the responsibility of the immigration service.
As the chief inspector acknowledged, the staff at Greenock prison will continue to manage the needs of those awaiting deportation with sensitivity and humanity. Regular visits are made by representatives of Strathclyde community relations council to advise on any religious, social or dietary needs of persons awaiting deportation. The council also arranges for interpreters, as required. The prison staff organise fortnightly discussions with persons awaiting deportation to resolve any problems.
Every six weeks, those detained are able to meet representatives from the local ethnic minority communities socially in the prison chapel. Videos and reading material are provided, and they are offered frequent access to facilities such as the gymnasium. The prison's ethnic minorities liaison officer monitors their situation. Any concerns are relayed immediately to the immigration service, and the few instances of racial harassment that arise are dealt with firmly.
The hon. Member asked about staff training. There is, of course, close liaison with Strathclyde community relations council. The present ethnic minorities liaison
officer has spent several days training with that council, which provides prison staff with advice on the sensitive handling of persons awaiting deportation.
As for overcrowding and the overall regime at Greenock, unfortunately the prison has had to cope with high prisoner numbers, often 30 per cent. above its previous design capacity of 172, for some time. That is why we have built an additional accommodation block there.
Chrisswell house, which consists of 60 cells on two galleries, cost £2.2 million, and opened last month. It is being used to house long-term, low-risk prisoners preparing for liberation. That will reduce overcrowding, and allow single-cell occupancy in Darroch hall, where long-term prisoners are also housed. At 15 March, Greenock was holding 236 prisoners, as against the enlarged design capacity of 232.
As for the rest of the prison estate, every effort is being made to minimise overcrowding by making the best use of accommodation and by bringing refurbished accommodation on stream as quickly as possible. The changes in the use of Castle Huntly, from housing young offenders to housing adults, and in that of Cornton Vale, so that it will take some young male offenders in segregated accommodation, are enabling the Scottish Prison Service to reduce overcrowding elsewhere in the system. That reduces the pressure on the local prisons at Edinburgh and Barlinnie.
The SPS is also working on obtaining a new prison under the private finance initiative. That prison will operate under the prison rules, and to a specified level of service. It will have about 500 places, built to category B standard to allow for future flexibility.
Because of its location, and in order to make the best use of the particular facilities there, Greenock prison holds a range of prisoners. It is a local prison serving the courts in the west of Scotland, principally those of Greenock, Paisley and Dumbarton. It also provides an enhanced regime for long-term prisoners nearing the end of their sentence--a "top end" facility for prisoners who are preparing for release and reintegration back into society.
I shall now talk about the distressing subject of suicides, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned. One suicide in the Scottish prisons is one too many, but it has proved difficult to ascertain why there has been an increase in the number of suicides. Each confirmed death by suicide has been extensively examined by management at the prison, by the Prison Service suicide risk management executive steering group, by the medical adviser to the service and by fatal accident inquiries. No common theme or pattern has emerged, and the medical adviser can see no reason for the increase in the number of suicides.
The fact that rare events sometimes cluster, and that the rate of suicide among young males in Scotland as a whole has increased, is of little comfort. The Prison Service has rightly commissioned Dr. Kevin Power and Dr. Joseph McElroy of the department of psychology at the university of Stirling to undertake the comprehensive evaluation of the suicide prevention strategy.
In addition, Professor Gunn of the institute of psychiatry is to provide authoritative independent assessment of the ways in which the Prison Service seeks to prevent suicide, with a view to ascertaining what steps could be considered in addition to action taken. Both the
reports are expected in the near future. Professor Gunn's report is certainly coming within the next few weeks, and we will consider it very carefully. We will await his advice, and we will consider how his analysis might best be disseminated.
At Greenock, a room has been set aside for vulnerable prisoners on the bottom flat of A hall, which is linked to the staff office and can be monitored constantly. Recent action across the service includes a new emphasis on providing care facilities that allow prisoners on strict suicide supervision greater personal interaction, a new design of supervision cell, new types of clothing and bedding for at-risk prisoners, and a rolling programme of training for prison nursing staff.
The hon. Member asked why the chief inspector is a lay appointment. It is, of course, important that the chief inspector brings a completely independent view to the inspection of the service. It is in line with the citizens charter, therefore, that he should be a lay person. Naturally, he is supported by a deputy chief inspector and an inspector, who are governors seconded from the Scottish Prison Service. The need to balance the competing demands of the different regimes at Greenock has been fully addressed in the context of the governor's strategic plan for 1996-97.
The deficiencies in the regime, to which the chief inspector referred, reflect the fact that Greenock is in a transition stage. As it develops a regime profile, it will be better able to assist and challenge prisoners to address their offending behaviour under the sentence planning scheme. There are now sufficient resources available--both by reallocation of existing resources and by resource injections through the strategic planning process--to take account of the opening of the new accommodation block.
Progress is being made in Greenock in the delivery of programmes aimed at reducing reoffending. Work is in hand to develop a comprehensive model for assessing prisoners' needs for counselling and training, and to
identify welfare problems. There has been a substantial investment in training prison staff to deliver programmes aimed at addressing offending behaviour, and the prison aims to achieve the investors in people standards.
The existing regime includes a range of programmes to address offending behaviour. There are group sessions on violence and anger management, and on drug and alcohol awareness. Inverclyde Alcohol Services assists in providing the alcohol counselling service. The education unit runs a course on listening and counselling skills, and has prepared a life skills and pre-release course.A cognitive skills training programme has been introduced to help prisoners to develop appropriate problem solving and coping strategies to break the cycle of persistent reoffending.
The cognitive skills programme was originally developed in the Canadian correctional service, and is based on extensive research there, which showed that many offenders have particular difficulties in solving problems, in thinking through the consequences of their actions, in understanding the needs of others, and in relating effectively to other people. I am glad that Greenock is playing a pioneering role in this connection. The Scottish Prison Service programme, which is being introduced throughout the service, consists of nine modules delivered over 35 two-hour sessions.
Research on the effectiveness of the cognitive skills programme in Canada showed an 11 per cent. reduction in overall reoffending among federal offenders serving two years and over. The programme will help prisoners to rationalise problems and to make better decisions, which should have a significant impact on how they conduct themselves when they return to society.
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