MSPs are to discuss whether to replace prison visiting committees, a system which has been in place since the 19th Century.

Visiting committees are allowed turn up at any jail in Scotland unannounced to inspect inmates' facilities from cells to washrooms and even taste their food.

The Scottish government is considering replacing volunteer visiting committees with an advocacy service.

The Scottish Tories said it was astonishing to want to abolish them.

Irresistible attraction
Former Scottish Conservative party leader Annabel Goldie has laid a motion at Holyrood which said the committees had an important role in monitoring prison conditions and provided value for money.

The Scottish government said no final decision had been made and it would consult on any changes that were to be made.

Miss Goldie said the attraction of the volunteer prison visitor was that they were "independent", had "no axe to grind" and were "not part of the system".

She added: "They should be an irresistible attraction for any government as they provide great value for money because they volunteer their services.

"The cost of training and operating the scheme is a mere £75,000 a year and for that modest sum they provide a very extensive service."

She added: "It is astonishing that the SNP want to abolish them for a more costly and ineffective service which is not independent of government and is almost certainly in violation of EU law."

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The government's decision to end the important work of prison visiting committees is quite bizarre, and it's clear that there's disquiet even on the SNP backbenches”

Patrick Harvie
Scottish Greens
Visiting Committees currently carry out about 1,500 unannounced visits to prisons each year, monitoring conditions and dealing with prisoner complaints.

Scottish Labour's community safety spokeswoman Jenny Marra said: "What Kenny MacAskill is proposing does not perform the function of visiting committees - he is not replacing like with like.

"An advocacy service won by a company bidding for a government contract will never be able to perform the impartial scrutiny carried out by volunteers on the visiting committee who offer their time to do spot checks on prison conditions.

"Kenny MacAskill's prime motivation here seems to be to reduce the number of public bodies.

"This is not a good enough reason to take away independent prison monitoring that has been seen as essential in law since Victorian times."

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: "The government's decision to end the important work of prison visiting committees is quite bizarre, and it's clear that there's disquiet even on the SNP backbenches.

"Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill seems to want to provide a poorer service at a higher cost, all for the aim of hitting arbitrary targets on the number of public bodies in Scotland."

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