Jamieson announces Reliance roll out
The Scottish Justice Minister has announced that Reliance will begin its prisoner escort and court custodial contract in the south west Scottish region.
Reliance shot to political prominence earlier this year when it released a number of prisoners in error when it began its west of Scotland contract.
Evidence given to the Scottish Parliament suggests that 17 prisoners have been released in error whilst under Reliance control, however the firm insists that only six of the errors can be directly attributed to it.
In June Cathy Jamieson said that she would not be rolling out further elements of the contract- which is designed to operate across all of Scotland- until the Scottish Prisons Service (SPS) were convinced Reliance could do the job.
On Monday, Ms Jamieson said that she had received a formal assurance from Tony Cameron, chief executive of the SPS, that Reliance is ready to deliver the contract in south-west Scotland.
Ms Jamieson said: “I made clear to Parliament that no further roll-out of the prisoner escorting contract would take place until SPS had conducted a formal assessment of Reliance’s readiness to proceed, and other partner agencies like the courts, fiscals and police gave formal assurances of their readiness to proceed alongside Reliance. Those assurances are now in place in relation to the courts in Dumfries and Galloway. I want to welcome this small, but important, step forward.
“The vast majority of prisoners are being delivered to the courts on time in the first phase, and procedures within the courts are improving and
developing. The decision to extend the contract to Dumfries and Galloway cannot, and must not, impact on that good performance in Glasgow, Paisley, Hamilton and other first phase courts.
“Reliance staff are in their third week of familiarising themselves with courts within the Dumfries and Galloway area. The importance of on-the-job shadowing to complement the intensive training programme undertaken by Reliance staff is just one of the lessons taken on board from experiences so far.
“Reliance is clear that they have the right people and preparations in place to ensure a smooth transition when the service goes live later this week. But there is absolutely no room for complacency and I expect SPS to monitor progress very closely.
Acknowledging previous difficulties, Ms Jamieson said: “After very real and very serious problems in the early weeks, sustained progress has been made in stepping up the performance of the contract in the area covered by the first phase.
“No service can be entirely error-free and it is clear that some of those problems stem from deep-rooted and long-standing issues within our courts that will require much more far-reaching reforms.”
The Scottish National Party’s (SNP) justice spokesman, Nicola Sturgeon, however branded the decision a “reckless move.”
Ms Sturgeon said: “Reliance is not yet performing to an acceptable standard in Strathclyde, and letting them get their hands on other areas is taking a huge gamble with public safety.
“Cathy Jamieson seems to have learned nothing from the experience of the last few months. If she had, she would accept that the Reliance contract should not be rolled out – it should be scrapped.”
The SNP have previously called on Ms Jamieson to resign over her handling of the Reliance contract.
