Super Prison Plan For Women Dropped
Justice Secretary decides against Inverclyde proposal
The Justice Secretary is scrapping plans to build a new womens' prison at Inverclyde. He inherited plans for a 350 cell prison on the outskirts of Greenock but in his first major act as Justice Secretary he is ruling them out in favour of local services. He wants a more ambitious and radical approach to dealing with women offenders - mostly in communities near their families. Mr Matheson is visiting the 218 centre in Glasgow this morning. It runs residential and day rehabilitation services. He said: “Since taking up post as Justice Secretary, I have been looking closely at proposals for a new prison for female offenders at Inverclyde. I’ve also listened carefully to the views expressed by a number of key interest groups. “I’ve decided that the current plans for a prison for women in Inverclyde should not go ahead. It does not fit with my vision of how a modern and progressive country should be addressing female offending. We need to be bolder and take a more radical and ambitious approach in Scotland. “When it comes to the justice system, we must be smarter with the choices we make and be more sophisticated in the way in which we deal with female offenders. Labour will welcome what they say is a Scottish Government U-turn.