Noranside prison officers are to take the campaign to save the Angus open jail from closure into the heart of the local community.
As the countdown continues towards a crunch presentation by union chiefs in a bid to convince the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to make a U-turn over plans to close the prison, Noranside staff will take to the streets of Forfar tomorrow to gather signatures for a petition.
The local members of the Prison Officers Association Scotland (POAS) will be joined by leading figures from the national organisation in the campaign effort, which includes a 2000-signature target for the petition.
The POAS is working on the business plan it hopes will convince SPS chiefs not to bring the curtain down on Noranside.
Nearly all of Noranside’s operational staff are part of the POAS push and they have also received additional backing from support colleagues.
“The business plan is being drawn up and is almost there,” said POAS assistant secretary Andy Hogg. “As part of the campaign, the petition has been progressed nationally and locally through the Noranside staff and it has received very good support in the Angus communities.Time is tight”Time is very tight, but we are aiming to get around 2000 signatures locally and we believe that is achievable.
“It only went out a few days ago, but I understand the support in communities such as Kirriemuir has been very good and we hope to build on that on Saturday in Forfar.”
Mr Hogg added, “It is local families which will be affected and what we are trying to get across is that Noranside is a success story and should be kept open.”
A key plank of the case to retain the prison is the recidivism rate amongst those who have passed through Noranside, which at 16% is substantially better than the 45% national average.
“We understand difficult decisions must be made, and that there will be no compulsory redundancies, but if Noranside closes, those jobs would not be in Angus,” said Mr Hogg.
“They would be transferred out of the area and our calculations indicate the cost to the local economy would be in the order of £3 million annually.”
The SPS board is scheduled to reconvene on February 16, with a final decision on the prison’s future due a week later.