Landline telephones are to be fitted in Scottish jail cells for the primary time.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) mentioned the brand new telephones will exchange cellular units issued in the course of the COVID pandemic, when visiting was restricted.
Inmates can be given 200 free minutes per 30 days to name numbers on a pre-approved listing, which the SPS will have the ability to monitor and file.
The SPS mentioned the hard-wired landlines, which can value £8.5m to put in, can be “subject to the same robust security” because the mobiles and telephones within the halls.
It is hoped the transfer will assist assist household contact, enhance psychological well being and wellbeing, and scale back the danger of reoffending.
Angela Constance, Scotland’s justice secretary, described it as a “welcome development”.
She added: “This will assist folks in custody keep contact with family and friends, together with their kids, which we all know is essential to their rehabilitative journey.
“It will also pave the way for in-cell education and give people in custody greater responsibility for their own lives – and will help ensure safe and stable prison environments.”
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The SPS mentioned the cabling used will assist to assist future ambitions for in-cell expertise.
It is hoped that may “further support contact, increase educational opportunities, and give people greater agency over their own lives, from booking courses they wish to attend to selecting meal choices”.
Teresa Medhurst, SPS chief government, mentioned: “This is an important milestone for the Scottish Prison Service, which has the potential to deliver tangible and enduring benefits for those in our care and their families, staff, the wider justice sector, and Scotland as a whole.
“It is an instance of how the SPS is taking the teachings realized within the extraordinarily difficult circumstances of the COVID pandemic to enhance the service we offer.
“I would like to thank all those colleagues who have worked so hard to deliver this.”
Source: information.sky.com”