Campaigners aiming to save Noranside Open Prison in Angus from closure have met North Tayside MSP John Swinney to hand over a petition in a bid to secure its future.
Members of trade union the Prison Officers Association Scotland are to meet Mr Swinney’s cabinet colleague justice secretary Kenny MacAskill in Edinburgh on Thursday to discuss options for the institution north of Forfar which looks likely to be a victim of justice spending cuts.
Assistant secretary Andy Hogg said he hoped the campaign had already sent a strong message to Mr MacAskill about the volume of opposition in Angus and beyond to closing the estate.
“The petition and indeed the overall campaign for Noranside lets Kenny MacAskill know what we are concerned about,” he said.
“In particular, the Scottish Government has commissioned research into progression and the open estate which will not be completed until March. We hope that they will at least wait until the results of that study are available until they make a final decision on Noranside. It seems incredulous not to.”
Proposals which would see the establishment closed and inmates transferred to Scotland’s only other open prison at Castle Huntly near Dundee were announced at the end of last year.
The move came just weeks after the Scottish Government had dismissed rumours over the future of Noranside as “groundless.”