Staff at Noranside open prison in Angus were told the institution was likely to shut four days before fears over its future were dismissed as “groundless” by the Scottish Government, it has been claimed.
Neil Powrie, Association of Visiting Committees for Scotland’s prisons chairman, said he received a text message on November 19 from a staff member who said a senior colleague had advised employees the prison was under threat.
Mr Powrie admitted that he heard “on the grapevine” at the beginning of the month that moves were afoot to transfer inmates to Scotland’s only other open prison Castle Huntly near Dundee to cope with justice spending cuts.
However, on November 23 the government told The Courier that the rumours were “groundless” after the Liberal Democrats suggested that Noranside was a possible closure target.
The Scottish Prison Service added that this was simply “speculation.”
Mr Powrie, who lives in Dundee and is a member and former chairman of the dedicated visiting committee for Noranside, said the whole episode had caused him considerable concern.
He told The Courier, “This was one of the things that caused me great dismay as there appeared to be some duplicity and I use that word carefully.
“A little bit of contact with the visiting committee would have been appreciated.”Denials bemoanedHe added, “One of the most unfortunate aspects of this whole thing is the denials to begin with.
“All we would have expected was a bit of openness and honesty.”
The consultation over the future of the open estate was due to end earlier this week, but has been extended by the SPS and will now be discussed at a board meeting later in the month.
This followed concern from campaigners and politicians, who claimed the process had been hampered by the festive season.
Mr Powrie added that he hoped the establishment, which is running under capacity, could continue to exist in some form after the talks.
Fewer prisoners have been transferred to Noranside after the case of Robert Foye, who absconded from Castle Huntly in 2007 and raped a teenager while on the run in Lanarkshire although it still houses several sex offenders and triple axe murderer Thomas McCulloch.
Mr Powrie said, “Lots of people have dismissed the future of Noranside and one of the issues the SPS obviously have is the Foye case which caused the criteria for getting to an open estate to change.
“But we have to ask serious questions here surely out of over 8000 prisoners in Scotland, there must be enough to qualify for the open estate?
“The staff do a great job and although there will be no compulsory redundancies it will still be a huge loss.”
The SPS was unavailable for comment.