Plans to close Castle Prison criticised
PRISON officers and Green councillors have criticised plans to close Lancaster Castle Prison, fearing it could end up standing empty if the proposals go ahead.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has begun talks with the Duchy of Lancaster over the prison's future after labelling it 'outdated and expensive to run'.
There are hopes its closure would allow the development of the Castle as a visitor attraction.
But Prison Officers' Association branch secretary Paul Barwell this week issued an open invitation to prison chiefs to visit the castle and see the work being done by staff.
"The people who are saying the castle isn't fit for purpose have never even been here to see it," he said.
Mr Barwell said the Ministry of Justice's views were based on an out-of-date inspection report from 2007.
"Every single aspect regarding issues of concern has been met," he said.
Castle ward Green councillors recently visited the prison to meet staff and inmates and left impressed.
Coun Melanie Forrest said: "It is doing good things around drug treatment, education and rehabilitation which is possible because it is small.
"Staff and inmates say they have not experienced that elsewhere.
"Prison officers are very concerned and fear for their jobs, they are not sure what's going on."
Coun Chris Coates added: "Neither the city nor the county council have any money to make it into a museum.
"While it would be very nice to have public access to the castle, I can't see that it would happen so we could end up with an empty building."
The prison, which currently employs around 300 staff and is ratedone of the best performing in the country, recently had 1 million invested in a new state-of-the-art health care centre.
The MoJ said staff would be redeployed if the closure went ahead.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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