The future of Noranside Open Prison in Angus remains shrouded in secrecy after the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) again refused to release key documents which could be central to securing its closure claiming that discussions between officials and Holyrood ministers would be “significantly constrained” under the threat that their views may be published.
The organisation has told The Courier that reproducing its submissions to the Scottish Government on the viability of the establishment as well as any information advising senior staff members of the case for closure would not be in the “public interest.”
The decision comes after this newspaper asked the SPS to review its handling of the original request made under Freedom of Information legislation, to which the body took almost three months to respond despite guidelines which suggest a reply should be delivered within 20 working days.
The investigation followed December’s controversial announcement that the institution was likely to be closed.
Acting with the support of chief executive John Ewing, the SPS has also withheld the minutes of any meetings in which the possibility of closing Noranside was discussed.
The institution, which can accommodate 519 prisoners, has not been close to capacity since criteria governing which offenders are eligible for open conditions was tightened in the wake of the Robert Foye case in 2007. Foye absconded from Castle Huntly and raped a schoolgirl in his native Lanarkshire while on the run.
Jane Richardson, assistant director for strategy at the Scottish Prison Service, insisted the argument that the information was exempt from disclosure under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act remained valid.
In a letter to The Courier, she wrote, “I reviewed matters again and applied the public interest test. I considered what benefit there would be for the public in getting access to the information under consideration balanced against a number of internal and external issues.
“I also balanced this against the need for the SPS to be able to gather information for the purpose of providing advice to the chief executive and Scottish ministers and in the course of that the need for free and frank exchange of views to assist Scottish ministers’ deliberations.
“Such deliberations and advice would naturally be constrained if it were believed that all information would likely be published in future.Outweighed”While there is some public interest in release for the purposes of openness and transparency, on this occasion it is outweighed by the overriding priority that SPS has a protected private space within which consultation and discussion can continue to take place with Scottish ministers prior to any final conclusions being reached.”
She added that the request was “correctly handled” in accordance with the SPS “procedures and legislative requirements” and said, “I can confirm that the chief executive of the SPS supports this decision.”
But the SPS did overturn its decision not to release briefings issued to trade union officials over the consultation.
These show the organisation had intended to close Noranside by March 31, ahead of the start of the 2011/2012 financial year something which was intimated to The Courier by sources late last year but which the SPS refused to officially confirm.
But following significant protest, a final decision on the matter was deferred until after last week’s Holyrood elections.
George De Gerniere, chairman of the prison’s visiting committee, hit out at the decision and insisted transparency was imperative if those affected by potential closure were to understand why the estate was no longer viable.
He said, “The SPS is holding all the aces here and the Foye case is the one thing they seem to be hanging on to. If it’s all down to numbers, why can’t they be open about it?
“I believe we can make Noranside work but the will just doesn’t seem to be there.”