AS someone who has had the dubious pleasure of having been inside all prison establishments in the west of Scotland (in a professional capacity I hasten to add), I can assure Neil Stewart (Letters, May17) that should he choose to carry out his Bonnie and Clyde rampage in an effort to secure a place in prison he might have a change of heart regarding what he clearly considers to be cushy conditions for ageing prisoners. Trust me on this - despite the best efforts of the very professional officers of the Scottish Prison Service he won’t enjoy the experience, no matter how much Sky TV he watches.
The tone of Mr Stewart's letter could lead the reader to conclude that he would much prefer that ageing prisoners in a modern enlightened society are not fed, provided with heat or any form of recreation such as watching television or keeping fit. Other than blaming the SNP Mr Stewart offers no solutions to the problems of ageing prisoner.
Feeling somewhat depressed after reading the letter from one half of Balfron's Bonnie and Clyde I do have to say that I was much heartened by the juxtaposition presented by the Agenda article from Sheila Leitch of the Volunteer Tutors Organisation (VTO) (“Helping underprivileged children get the benefits of tutoring”, The Herald, May 17). What a heart-warming, forward-looking approach. You could almost reach out and touch the positivity from the organisation in their endeavours to assist some of the most economically disadvantaged children in Scotland in terms of their educational attainment and thus their future lives.
In despairing of the negative attitude shown towards ageing prisoners by Mr Stewart I wish every success to the VTO, and more especially the children whom they support.
John S Milligan,
86 Irvine Road, Kilmarnock.
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