Scottish minister defends prison escort services decision
Beleaguered Scottish justice minister Cathy Jamieson has defended her decision to privatise prison escort services after convicted killer John McCormick walked free.
First minister Jack McConnell has voiced his support for Ms Jamieson, insisting that she is an outstanding minister who is in control of the current situation.
The Scottish National Party claims Ms Jamieson failed to guarantee public safety after security firm Reliance allowed teenage murderer McCormick to walk free from Hamilton Sheriff Court.
The justice minister insisted that she had taken “a hands-on attitude” after McCormick was wrongly released and pointed out that the prison service was “responsible” for overseeing the escort contract.
In an interview with BBC Newsnight Scotland, Ms Jamieson said: “The idea was to free up police officers for front line duties and we wanted to free up prison officers, who are dealing with a rising prison population. It does work well in the other parts of the UK, and there is no reason why it cannot work well here.
“The company has accepted that it was something that should not have happened. I can understand the outrage of the public and the victim’s family.”
However, SNP justice spokeswoman Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland: “I think a competent minister would have made sure that procedures were in place, that staff who were being expected to do this job had adequate training for the job, before a private company was allowed to have custody of prisoners.
“Because she did not do that, we now have one prisoner on the run and what sounds to me like chaos in our courts.”
Reliance, which has an £11 million contract to escort prisoners, released 17-year-old McCormick in error after he appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court last Thursday. McCormick was sentenced to life for the stabbing of 17-year-old Thomas Loughrey in the Pollokshaws area of Glasgow on July 27th 2003. He had been appearing in court on an unconnected charge and is still at large.
The managing director of Reliance, Tom Riall, has made a public apology for releasing McCormick in error, but insists that his staff are doing “a first-class job on the ground”.
