A prison officer’s car has been firebombed outside of a Scots prison in another attack on staff suspected to be carried out by organised criminals.
In the latest incident, a staff member’s car was firebombed outside Saughton Prison in Edinburgh on September 7. Emergency services attended and thankfully no one was injured, Edinburgh Live reports.
But a union was warned that it’s the latest attack in a growing number of incidents against prison officers.
The incident follows at least 10 similar fires including recent attacks outside HMP Addiewell in West Lothian and HMP Perth, as reported by the Record.
Phil Fairlie, deputy general secretary of the Scottish Prison Officers Association, believes the attacks have been carried out by organised crime gangs.
A number of police investigations are also ongoing into threats made to prison officers.
(Image: Will Robertson)
Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme, Fairlie said: “The level of threat and intimidation that staff are facing is the worst I think I’ve seen in the 30 odd years I’ve been involved in prisons.”
Across the Scottish prison estate there has been a huge increase in both Scots and international organised crime groups.
Scottish Prison Service (SPS) intelligence reports have identified 538 individuals linked to serious and organised crime, which is around eight per cent of the total prison population.
Of those, 176 have been linked to 54 different serious and organised crime groups, many of whom operate throughout the UK and some globally.
The figure includes 23 “principals” who either lead the crime gangs or operate at the highest level.
Fairlie continued: “The prison population that we hold at the moment is an incredibly challenging mix of prisoners.
“There is a huge amount of time and staff resources being used just to manage the huge increase in the organised crime gang numbers that we’ve got inside prisons.
“Trying to manage them, to keep them separate either from settling old scores or ganging up and operating together while behind bars.”
Earlier this year the SPS revealed organised crime groups took out contracts worth £2.8 million for attacks on rivals in Scotland’s prisons last year.
There were 108 serious assaults on prisoners in 2021/22 – a 61 per cent increase on the previous year’s figure of 67. More than 50 of those involved inmates linked to organised crime but none resulted in a fatality.
A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “We can confirm that an incident took place within the car park of HMP Edinburgh at around 11:40, on Thursday, 7 September.
“Scottish Fire and Rescue were called and no injuries were sustained. Incidents of alleged criminality are reported to Police Scotland.”
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond – Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
