Praise for anti-sectarian move

The anti-sectarian education policy has proved successful

Moves by the prison service to curb sectarian violence through education have been praised by MSPs.

Members of the Justice 1 Committee were impressed with what they saw on a recent visit to Polmont Young Offenders' Institute in Falkirk.

They agreed that the work being carried out to combat sectarianism was particularly worthwhile.

Sessions taking place in the education unit included Rangers fans watching Celtic videos, and vice versa.

In a report out on Wednesday, MSPs were generally pleased with the centre, which was visited by the Earl of Wessex last month.

Concerns raised

Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Margaret Smith spoke of the "very interesting work" to end animosity.

She said: "We are talking about young men who have had serious problems in that respect, so it is quite interesting seeing what they were doing there."

Ms Smith, MSP for Edinburgh West, said the institute was "coping quite well on the face of it" with a large influx of inmates, but concerns were raised about facilities.

MSPs heard a new block being built should have individual showers in each cell to save prison staff time in taking inmates to and from the shower block.

Ms Smith added: "If there is something to be done to improve facilities it might actually save staff time."

Concerns were also raised about fire safety in the smaller cells.