By Democrat reporter
The Scottish Government’s under pressure arts grant quango has been blasted after handing out a significant fee for music projects for prisoners.
Creative Scotland has dished out £169k to applicants to create musical projects for those behind bars and also some who have just been released from custody.
According to the Daily Express, this revelation comes amid an external review being launched into the body after it was controversial funding choices, including a £85,000 handout to a production which promised non-simulated sex acts.
Inside Barlinnie Prison where prisoners take teaching and tutoring on how to do rap.
It led to the organisation being dragged over hot coals by opposition MSPs.
According to a freedom of information request, Creative Scotland utilised £169k on four different projects, with three of them involving behind bars teaching and tutoring. The most high profile was rap classes being launched for prisoners in Barlinnie.
Two music courses were put on in the prison, for songwriting and hip hop, with the aim to give offenders a “creative outlet and a voice.” Conviction Records was handed a £9k grant to lead on this, which it said would “encourage musicality and creativity, improve mental health and wellbeing, create new opportunities, and contribute to rehabilitation.”
Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr said: “Hard-pressed taxpayers will be outraged that this SNP quango has squandered this six-figure sum on courses for prisoners. This is a prime example of the SNP’s soft-touch justice culture which even seems to be embedded in Creative Scotland.
“While rehabilitation is important it is just common sense that taxpayers’ money shouldn’t have been spent on pandering to criminals with these workshops.” Creative Scotland is now the subject of an external review due to its criticised funding decision, including Rein.
It will look at whether “its operations and structure are optimal to the needs of the culture sector.” Creative Scotland was told that Rein would involve a “sex scene with genital contact” before they awarded the show more than £86,000 of taxpayers’ cash, and had to claw this money back following a public outcry.
Creative Scotland has been approached for comment.
Johnny Cash was as ex prisoner.
Maybe he learned his guitar and crooning in jail. Rehabilitation is supposed to be part of any custodial sentence. Or should we just feed them bread and water, make them work in the fields, or if there were any colonies left, send criminals to the colonies.
There was many a criminal Irish felon sent to the colonies for stealing a loaf of bread, or rebelling against the Crown that caused millions of them to live and die in hardship, and not just in the famine years.
So yes, going soft on prisoners, or should I say the easy shot of saying that we are going soft on prisoners, is just that, an easy shot to call. But is it accurate and what do we want to do with prisoners.