“Taxpayer to buy 1,600 flat-screen TVs a year for prison inmates in Scotland” |
| Taxpayer to buy 1,600 flat-screen TVs a year for prison inmates in Scotland Posted: 12 Nov 2010 04:38 PM PST THE Scottish Prison Service has ordered 1,600 flat-screen televisions with built-in DVD players for inmates, newly released figures have revealed.
Annual contracts have been put out to tender by the SPS for the 19-inch sets for use in Scotland's jails. Labour's shadow justice secretary Richard Baker said that the move will "shock" the taxpayer and claimed the move would cost the taxpayer around? £250,000. The SPS said that inmates pay £1 a week for the televisions and claimed that the new sets were "energy efficient" models. Prisoners can also pay for special privileges using wages earned for carrying out jobs in the jails where they are being held. The order for the TVs said: "The SPS is seeking to secure the supply of 19" colour low-energy efficient televisions for use in a prison environment … Historically, SPS usually requires 1,600 TVs annually." The figures were released in a ministerial reply to a parliamentary question from Mr Baker, who claimed that many of his constituents could not afford "swanky 19-inch flat-screen" TVs. He said: "These figures make it clear that the prison authorities are looking at buying 1,600 flat-screen TVs a year for Scotland's prisoners. This amounts to nearly £250,000 and will shock the law-abiding majority in this country. "Many of my constituents can't afford new televisions and particularly not swanky 19-inch flat-screen affairs. What sort of message does this send? "The SNP government needs to get a grip on this situation and ensure that more work and study is provided for inmates. "At the moment the government does not even know how many convicts are engaged in work. It simply isn't good enough. "It's quite clear there should be no perks without work and Justice Secretary Kenny Mac Askill needs to understand that people are sick of his soft touch approach to Scottish justice. "Given the fact that we're about to have a budget where there will be swingeing cuts announced, no doubt to important areas of the justice department budget, including the prison service, I cannot accept that this is appropriate use of public money." The supply of the TVs to criminals was also criticised by Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken, who said the move was "scandalous". Mr Aitken said that prisoners should not be able to enjoy equipment that ordinary "law-abiding people" can't afford". He said: "There are many decent law-abiding people who would not be able to afford TVs of this type, and yet we make them available to people who, in many instances, have committed crimes of violence or gross dishonesty. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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