SNP vows to reopen Airborne boot camp for young offenders

THE SNP yesterday pledged to reopen a controversial "boot camp" for young offenders.

The Airborne Initiative was axed more than two years ago after it featured in a fly-on-the wall TV documentary.

The scheme, based in Carluke, Lanarkshire, closed when the Scottish Executive withdrew its 600,000 funding.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But yesterday Kenny MacAskill, the SNP's justice spokesman, branded that a mistake and promised his party would reinstate the project.

He said: "We have to show these kids there's a different way of life and they can achieve far more than drink, drugs and going on the rampage."

The reoffending rate for young people who took part in the nine-week long programme was just 21 per cent, compared to 79 per cent among those who had been to prison, he said.

When it closed, a place at Airborne cost 116 a week compared to 574 for a prison place. The project opened in 1994 to give residential courses for repeat offenders aged 18-25. It shut in 2004 with the loss of 26 jobs.

Clive Fairweather, Scotland's former chief inspector of prisons, who was an adviser for Airborne, last night said the initiative should be revived.

"When you consider the amount of crime that is committed by these people, I think it is worth bringing back," he said.