Scotland’s largest prison workers union is developing a business plan it hopes will save Noranside Open Prison.
Following a meeting last week, the Prison Officers Association Scotland (POAS) has confirmed it is working on documents it will present to the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) at the end of the month.
Assistant secretary Andy Hogg told The Courier the organisation still believes Noranside is valid, despite justice spending cuts and the fact it has been operating under capacity for several years.
The move comes after the SPS last month announced plans to close Noranside and transfer inmates to Castle Huntly on the outskirts of Dundee just weeks after Scottish Government officials dismissed speculation over its future as “groundless.”
Mr Hogg said, “We’re certainly confident that there is a good case for keeping Noranside open. We need to work together to ensure this case is presented to the SPS in the best way, but we have a great support with which we hope to sway people.
“We understand that it’s difficult and there are a lot of decisions to be made against the background of the savings that need to be made, but we believe we should be saving Noranside.”
The institution 10 miles north-east of Forfar has been running under capacity since the criteria governing the prisoners eligible for open conditions was tightened in the wake of the Robert Foye case in 2008.
Foye was convicted of raping a teenager in his native Lanarkshire while on the run from Castle Huntly the previous year.
However, Mr Hogg argued that open prisons were highly successful in a number of cases and still have a valuable role to play in cutting the re-offending rate.
“The prison population is projected to rise to around 10,000 and we believe if only 300-400 of those can qualify for open conditions it says an awful lot about Scottish society,” he added.