Inverness prison unlikely to survive in ‘soft-touch’ justice system
HIGHLAND MSP Edward Mountain spent an evening shadowing police around Inverness and was so shocked by the pressure officers are under that he called for Porterfield to remain in jail usage after the new deluxe Inverness Prison is opened, an event which may happen next year.
This would ensure more prisoners remain locked up rather than being granted early release as a result of general overcrowding behind bars.
So an interesting night for Mr Mountain, and one which provided him with enough eyewitness material to enable him to say something of significance.
He had better luck than I did.
It was a standard ritual for young new reporters to spend a similar night with the police when I joined the Highland News in 1975.
I climbed into the back seat of a police car full of eager expectation and got out four hours later with an empty notebook and a sense of bafflement as to what I could possibly write about.
Literally nothing had happened, no fights, no vandalism, no calls for urgent assistance, not even a drunk needing lifted off a pavement. And certainly - the biggest miss of all - no flashing blue light drama.
The most memorable thing that happened was when we stopped for some fish and chips.
A second ritual was to spend an evening in A&E at Raigmore, and the contrast between then and now was even more extreme.
For most of the time the place was empty. Medical staff there idled around and, with no patients, I soon ran out of questions to ask them.
Nowadays, from what we read and hear, most A&E departments - including Raigmore - are a cross between "Casualty" and a war zone.
Recently I was up at Raigmore and saw an apparition with a tattooed face being escorted away in the firm grip of two police officers, and that was at lunchtime.
Mr Mountain may well be on the right track with his proposal that Porterfield should remain in use after the new prison is opened, but is there any hope that that might happen?
The reasons given for the jail being built when the issue first arose around 15 years ago was that Porterfield was considered unsuitable accommodation for prisoners in the modern era. It was deemed to be too decrepit for habitation.
There was a backlash against that view from some people who believed it acceptable to house criminal offenders in anything better than a pigsty.
But that somewhat harsh perspective was shoved aside by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Prison Service as they released an artist's impression of what the new "community prison" would look like, a picture of elegance with curved, flowing walls and the prospect of specially commissioned artwork at its entrance. And most importantly a "state of the art" interior which looked like a holiday camp.
The new prison was then costed at around £50 million.
The authorities appeared to spend so long on refining the elegance of the proposed structure that they forgot about the need to get on with building it. Now after years of delay the cost has risen to more than £200 million.
If they'd stuck something up back then minus the curvy walls and the fancy interior they'd have had enough left over for a surplus of prisons, with or without Porterfield.
Edward Mountain makes the time-honoured point that if you do the crime you should serve the time. But it seems that no longer applies in today's soft-touch justice system.
For those who oversee it, far better to grant prisoners "early release" than have them detained in the antiquated surrounds of Porterfield, which fails to match up with modern day standards and fails to meet prisoners' requirements.
I spent that night with the police in 1975 and in Raigmore A&E, but never gained access to do the same at Porterfield.
Early release? Conditions unsuitable? If I had raised these issues with the jail's warders of the time - and I went on to come to know a suitably hard-bitten pair of them - they'd have laughed scornfully in my face.
