‘Chess game’ to keep gangsters separated in jail as an attack

Jailing of hundreds of Scottish gangsters has given up the prison staff to play a daily game of chess as they try to keep the violent rivals separate.

Scottish Jail Service says that in the midst of an increase in attacks associated with serious organized crime groups (SOCG), more prisoners are being kept in separation than ever.

The chief executive of the service says that recently the Gangaland’s quarrel in Central Scotland has raised the temperature behind bars, and that employees are doing “a brave work” in crowded jails.

Jail Officers Association says that many of its

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said that the Scottish government was aware of the impact of growth in prisoners and a crime on the gel system, and was working with the partners to reduce the loss.

Scotland prison population was 8,251 on Monday. About 660 of those prisoners are considered as “strong SOCG associations” and many other lower levels are associated with local gangs.

In recent years, police Scotland and prosecutors at the Crown Office have acquired the faults of dozens of gangland.

These include top level figures like Jamie “Iceman” Stevenson And James “The Dawn” WhiteWhich both were involved in international drug smuggling.

But this year tension has increased, thanks to a wave of gangland violence and two senior scottish figures in Spain.

Add congestion to the mixture, and the end result is a gel system under significant pressure.

The quarrel started in March with assets and attacks against those associated with associated people Edinburgh gangster Mark Richardson,

They have relationships with Daniel Crime Family in Glasgow, Prolonged rival Another West Coast Crime Group, Leones.

Violence spread from Edinburgh to Lanarkshire and Glasgow, targeting people associated with the Daniel family.

When two senior members of the Leonse Crime Group were shot dead in Spain on 31 May, it was believed that the murders in Scotland were involved in quarrels.

Ross Monaghan and Eddie Leonse Junior were closed at a time at Fungirola in Costa del Sol.

Within a few days, fearing the rebels, the police Scotland released a careful word, stating that there was no “no current evidence” to suggest the double shooting “orchestrated from Scotland”.

The killings of Ross Monaghan and AD Leone JNR would have given a lot of blow within HMP shots, where prisoners joined the Leon gang, the largest group of SOCG prisoners.

It is the only prison in Scotland that perfectly treats people on sentences of four years or more. Out of its 538 prisoners, 221 are serving life for murder.

With a 30 -year experience in service, HMP Shots Governor Governor Gillian Walker says that managing prisoners associated with serious organized crime is a bigger challenge than ever.

“This is a daily battle to put on top of it,” he said. “For a better phrase, it is constantly pushing pieces of chess.

“We are trying to maintain things and understand a moving picture. As it runs in the community, it also runs in jails.”

Nearly cooperation with the police helps the SPS decide where the prisoners should be placed, although the gang affiliation is not always clear and can change.

Across Scotland jails, the number of violent incidents in 2022 has increased from 95 per month to 135 in a month this year. Some of those incidents are related to organized crime rivalry.

Teresa Medharst, CEO of Scottish Jail Service said: “It is very worrying, and it is not only an attack on individuals and separate groups, this is an attack on our employees.”

The number of prisoners “out of the association” – is kept separate from other prisoners – is at an all -time high. They have to be adjusted, exercised and fed separately.

Mrs. Medharst said that recently the quarrel was “changing the temperature” in some jails because the prisoners waited to see how it would play.

“It is a valor that employees are currently undertaking, to stay on top to keep people safe,” he said.

“There are many groups, so many people who need to keep separate, that it is making life very difficult for them.”

The Chief Executive Officer says that the congested is making things worse because employees do not have enough time to gather intelligence and make a relationship with prisoners.

Hundreds of short-term prisoners have been released early, but the population is returning to its previous all-time high 8,420.

Mrs. Medharst says it is a “realistic expectation” that the record set in 2012 will break.

Angela Constance said that the Scottish government had taken several action to face challenges in jails, including Initial release scheme For short -term prisoners.

He said: “We are continue to work with Scottish jail service and partners, which is on further measures to manage the complex jail population in a permanent manner.

“In the long term, it will be informed by independent punishment and the recommendations of the Penalty NITI Aayog, which we established earlier this year and are due to the report by the end of 2025.”

For Scotland, the Jail Officers Association Association General Secretary Phil Priceli says that the authorities have set their cars on fire and the gangsters have tried to manipulate and recruit weak employees.

“He has spent exploiting people throughout his life and tries to do exactly the same for jail authorities,” said Mr. Pharili.

“We are talking about those who are much higher than the ladder of organized crime gangs, that the level of danger and threat is beyond what employees have been used earlier.

“It is stable, it is busy and it is very stressful.

“We are constantly talking to employees who received fear and concerns for their safety, just because they are doing their work.

“The level of fear and anxiety should be a concern for everyone.”

Teresa Medaharst says that in the last three or four years, SOCG has come to consider jails as places where they can expand their business.

Drone is being used on a weekly basis to bring dangerous psychoactive drugs, weapons and mobile phones into jails.

Mrs. Medharst said that there was a “one game changer”.

He said that packages made by a single drone were often worth more than £ 10,000.

“We had a recent incident in a establishment where we think there were many drone incidents.

“As a result we had many people who had to be treated in jail and hospital.”

To deal with the problem, the anti-drain grill is being fitted on cell block windows throughout the gel estate.