MALCOLM BURNS reviews the latest goings-on in Scotland.
It's official: prisons don't work
FORMER first minister Henry McLeish hasn't been seen much since he became the first Scottish Labour leader to quit office. But he was fairly ubiquitous last week.
The independent Scottish Prisons Commission, which Alex Salmond had asked McLeish to chair, reported that our jails were at bursting point, which we all knew. But the good news is that something can be done about this.
"High prison populations do not reduce crime," McLeish concluded in his report. "They are more likely to create pressures that drive reoffending than to reduce it."
So, it is official - prison doesn't work.
The government is already building three new prisons to cope with overcrowding, but SNP Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill said that this could not go on.
"Building more and more prisons at the expense of schools and hospitals is not the answer," he said.
The commission's report argues that gaining control over prison numbers should be the first step. Scotland has one of the highest rate of incarceration in Europe.
At 8,000, inmate numbers already exceed the prison capacity and the total would rise to 8,700 over the next few years if no action is taken.
The McLeish report states that Scotland should aim to reduce its prison population to 5,000.
Among its 23 recommendations, the report argues that a new type of community supervision sentence should be created to replace jail terms of up to six months.
The response from the other parties was predictably hysterical. The Tories believe that the solution is easy - build more prisons, presumably private ones.
Labour's justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill called the idea of cutting the prison population by 3,000 "outrageous."
"All across Scotland, ordinary families will be asking, what message does this send about the SNP priorities?" she said.
Another question would be, what does that response say about Labour's priorities?
The last words in the McLeish Report are: "The government and the people of Scotland should be left in no doubt that we first need up-front investment in better services in and for Scotland's communities."
In other words, prison is not the answer and addressing poverty and inequality probably is.
Unfortunately, the considered wisdom of McLeish and even MacAskill may well be lost in the heat of gang warfare in the East End of Scotland's biggest city.
In the impoverished communities of Glasgow East in the present by-election, Labour and the SNP are likely to be in a bidding war to chastise and lock up as many people as possible in a effort to look tough on crime.
Just don't disagree
NOTWITHSTANDING - I've always wanted to start a sentence with that word - the political chaos around it, the Calman Commission on Scottish devolution continued with its established series of meetings last week.
Acting Labour leader Cathy Jamieson said that it was "business as usual" despite the sudden loss of Wendy Alexander, whose idea the commission was in the first place.
We'll see. To some extent, the future of Calman, as so much else for Scottish Labour, will depend on who takes the reins after the leadership contest now scheduled for August.
Meanwhile, the Calman Commission has decided to duck out of public meetings in its extensive summer schedule of consultations. Why?
The commission's engagement task group, which is chaired by Telegraph newspaper executive Murdoch Mac Lennan, agreed that "it would not be appropriate for the commission to hold 'town-hall' meetings across Scotland open to the general public, at least during the information-gathering stage of its work.
"Such meetings would be difficult to manage and open to 'hijack' and were unlikely to be an effective means of establishing the balance of public opinion in that area."
So now you know.
Contenders must wait
A SCOTTISH Labour leadership contest looks inevitable, even though it has been postponed now till the Glasgow East by-election is out of the way.
The candidates are now in "purdah" until then, but it looks as though Iain Gray will be the Brown-endorsed candidate, with current deputy leader Cathy Jamieson being the Scottish Establishment's "safe pair of hands." I am not sure that Alex Salmond will be too worried.
Other candidates who didn't deny an interest in throwing their hats in the ring were shadow health spokeswoman Margaret Curran and Andy Kerr.
Curiously, Charlie Gordon, the man who took the initial rap for Wendy Alexander's donations debacle, has also said that he would be interested.
Sorry, Charlie. There is even less chance of that than of a left-wing challenge, where the possible contenders Bill Butler and Elaine Smith would struggle to get the six required MSP nominations.
In the absence of any left leadership candidate, attention would switch to the deputy leadership, which would become vacant if Jamieson is in the race for leader.
Leaders drop like flies
I KNOW it's a long time in politics, but how many party leaders can bite the dust in one week? At the time of writing, it was two. First, Wendy walked, now Nicol's knuckled under.
Wendy Alexander's resignation as Scottish Labour leader was down to her own leadership campaign donation problems, which resulted in censure by the Scottish Parliament, though the fact that she had not found a way to successfully oppose the SNP put her under intolerable pressure as well.
Everyone takes Nicol Stephen's reason for quitting as Scottish Lib Dem leader - that he wants to spend more time with his family - quite literally, probably because he's regarded as an all-round nice guy. But he too had failed to galvanise his party in opposition.
Unions united
IT'S good to see the logos of all three unions - GMB, Unite and UNISON - on the leaflets going out to Scottish council workers in the current pay dispute.
It may well be the first time that such concerted action among the three main local authority unions has taken place and bodes well for a united front and a positive outcome in the campaign running throughout July for a Yes vote for strike action.
And the Civil Service union PCS is also now balloting for action. The summer is definitely hotting up in Scotland.
Subscribe to the Morning Star online
For peace and socialism - the only socialist daily paper in the English language
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment