YOUNG offenders should be allowed to make phone calls from their cells to increase the support available to them when they are distressed, according to the chief inspector of prisons in Scotland.
Wendy Sinclair-Gieben made the comments at Holyrood’s Justice Committee yesterday as MSPs heard evidence on the availability of mental health services at HMP YOI Polmont.
Addressing MSPs, Sinclair-Gieben suggested that providing in-cell technology allowing offenders to make calls could help to combat some of the mental health problems caused by social isolation.
She explained that the technology would consist of cordless phones being installed in which offenders would have to dial in their pin number before being able to make a call to numbers that had been agreed upon for them to use.
Sinclair-Gieben said: “If you think of young people, those of us who have teenagers, they’re welded to their phones. You’re taking that away from them, but also you’re taking away their primary vehicle for communication.
“And so if you are distressed at night, currently you can ring a bell and somebody will come and give you a phone to phone Samaritans. That requires a level of sort of self-help seeking behaviour.
“Whereas, in fact, if you can just phone a helpline, phone your family, phone all the rest of it, from your room without having to stigmatise yourself, I think that would be a huge benefit and I would certainly say it’s a quick win.”
Last week, the chief inspector published a review on mental health services for young people in custody, which called for the creation of a stronger suicide and self-harm strategy.
The review was ordered after the deaths of two young people at Polmont – 16-year-old William Lindsay and 21-year-old Katie Allan.
Asked if a measure to introduce the in-cell phone technology could pose any risks, Sinclair-Gieben said: “Not that I can see. I can’t see any difference between using the phone because it follows exactly the same security guidelines as the normal phone on the wing.
She added: “It doesn’t require any legislation, I think it needs support.”
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