‘Game of chess’ to keep gangsters apart in jail as attacks rise

The jailing of a whole lot of Scottish gangsters has left jail employees enjoying a every day sport of chess as they attempt to preserve violent rivals aside.

The Scottish Jail Service says extra inmates are being held in segregation than ever earlier than, amid an increase in assaults linked to critical organised crime teams (SOCGs).

The service’s chief govt says the latest gangland feud in central Scotland has raised the temperature behind bars, and that employees are finishing up “a heroic activity” in overcrowded jails.

The Jail Officers’ Affiliation says lots of its members have been left fearing for his or her security due to threats and intimidation from gang-affiliated criminals.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance stated the Scottish authorities was conscious of the influence of the rise in inmates and organised crime on the jail system, and was working with companions to scale back the hurt induced.

Scotland’s jail inhabitants stood at 8,251 on Monday. About 660 of these inmates are thought to have “robust SOCG associations” and lots of others are linked to decrease stage, native gangs.

Lately, Police Scotland and prosecutors on the Crown Workplace have secured dozens of gangland convictions.

These have included these of prime stage figures like Jamie “Iceman” Stevenson and James “The Don” White, who have been each concerned in worldwide drug smuggling.

However rigidity has ramped up this 12 months, due to a wave of gangland violence and the homicide of two senior Scottish figures in Spain.

Add overcrowding to the combo, and the top result’s a jail system underneath important stress.

The feud started in March with assaults in opposition to properties and folks related to Edinburgh gangster Mark Richardson.

He has hyperlinks with the Daniels crime household in Glasgow, long-time rivals of one other west coast crime group, the Lyons.

The violence unfold from Edinburgh to Lanarkshire and Glasgow, concentrating on individuals linked to the Daniels household.

When two senior members of the Lyons crime group have been shot lifeless in Spain on 31 Could, it was extensively assumed the murders have been linked to the feud again in Scotland.

Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr have been gunned down at a bar in Fuengirola within the Costa Del Sol.

Inside days, fearing reprisals, Police Scotland issued a carefully-worded assertion insisting there was “no present proof” to recommend the double capturing was “orchestrated from Scotland”.

The murders of Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr would have induced nice shock inside HMP Shotts, the place prisoners linked to the Lyons gang type the most important group of SOCG inmates.

It’s the solely jail in Scotland which solely offers with individuals on sentences of 4 years or extra. Of its 538 prisoners, 221 are serving life for homicide.

With 30 years’ expertise within the service, HMP Shotts governor Gillian Walker says managing prisoners linked to critical organised crime is a much bigger problem than ever earlier than.

“It is a every day battle to maintain on prime of it,” she stated. “For need of a greater phrase, it is shifting chess items consistently.

“We’re attempting to maintain up with issues and perceive a shifting image. Because it strikes locally, it strikes in prisons as nicely.”

Nearer co-operation with the police helps the SPS resolve the place prisoners must be held, though gang affiliations aren’t all the time clear and may change.

Throughout Scotland’s jails, the variety of violent incidents has risen from 95 a month in 2022 to 135 a month this 12 months. A few of these incidents are associated to organised crime rivalry.

Scottish Jail Service chief govt Teresa Medhurst stated: “It’s extremely worrying, and it is not simply assaults on people and completely different factions, it is assaults on our employees.”

The variety of prisoners held “out of affiliation” – saved other than different inmates – is at an all-time excessive. They must be accommodated, exercised and fed individually.

Mrs Medhurst stated the latest feud was “altering the temperature” in some jails as inmates waited to see how it could play out.

“It’s a heroic ask that employees are enterprise simply now, to maintain on prime of protecting individuals secure,” she stated.

“There are such a lot of factions, so many individuals who have to be saved separate, that it’s making life very tough for them.”

The chief govt says overcrowding is making issues worse as a result of employees do not have sufficient time to collect intelligence and construct relationships with prisoners.

A whole bunch of short-term inmates have been launched early however the inhabitants is edging again up in the direction of its earlier all-time excessive of 8,420.

Mrs Medhurst says it is a “practical expectation” that that document, set in 2012, will likely be damaged.

Angela Constance stated the Scottish authorities had taken a variety of actions to handle challenges in prisons, together with the early release scheme for short-term inmates.

She stated: “We’re persevering with to work with the Scottish Jail Service and companions on additional measures to handle the advanced jail inhabitants in a sustainable means.

“In the long run, this will likely be knowledgeable by the suggestions of the unbiased Sentencing and Penal Coverage Fee, which we established earlier this 12 months and is because of report by the top of 2025.”

Phil Fairlie, the Jail Officers’ Affiliation’s assistant normal secretary for Scotland, says officers have had their vehicles firebombed and gangsters have tried to govern and recruit weak employees.

“They’ve spent a lifetime exploiting individuals they usually attempt to do precisely the identical to jail officers,” stated Mr Fairlie.

“We’re speaking about people who find themselves excessive up sufficient the ladder of organised crime gangs, that the extent of menace and intimidation is past what employees have been used to earlier than.

“It’s fixed, it’s hectic and it’s totally aggravating.

“We’re consistently speaking to employees who’ve received fears and considerations for his or her security, simply because they’re doing their job.

“That stage of concern and anxiousness must be a fear to all people.”

Teresa Medhurst says within the final three or 4 years, SOCGs have come to treat prisons as locations the place they’ll broaden their enterprise.

Drones are getting used on a weekly foundation to get harmful psychoactive medication, weapons and cellphones into jails.

Mrs Medhurst stated that had been “a sport changer”.

She stated the packages carried by a single drone have been typically value greater than £10,000.

“We had a latest incident at one institution the place we expect there have been a variety of drone incidents.

“As a consequence of that we had a variety of individuals who needed to be handled at jail and in hospital.”

To deal with the issue, anti-drone grills are being fitted over cell block home windows all through the jail property.