Prison tattoo studio proposal sparks row

PROPOSALS to open tattoo parlours in Scottish prisons were yesterday criticised as "obscene" and a waste of taxpayers' money.

The row erupted after a report for the Scottish Prison Service suggested ministers should consider introducing professional tattooing equipment into the country's jails.

Infections such as hepatitis C, partly caused by inmates using makeshift tattoo equipment like pens, toothbrush handles and lighters, were highlighted as a health risk to inmates.

The report recommended a pilot scheme which would see a tattoo studio established in a long-stay prison.

But the Scottish Prison Officers Association warned this move would be the thin end of the wedge.

A spokesman for the POA said: "It raises the issue of where do we stop if we do something like this.

"We've never been approached about this, but it wouldn't be appropriate.

"If we have these tattoo kits in, do we then bring in hairdressers from outside?

"Hairdressing is currently done within prisons through vocational training.

"Our members wouldn't be happy to work with individuals going for tattoos in this way.

"It would be an added burden, as prison officers already have enough work to do."

The report's author Dona Milne, who was seconded to the Scottish Government at the time, suggested prison bosses should increase inmate education about tattooing and make clean materials available.

Figures from 2008 showed that 54 per cent of Scotland's 8,000 prisoners said they had a tattoo, including 18 per cent who claimed to have had theirs done while in jail.

North-east Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said that encouraging prisoners to get tattoos could harm any chance of rehabilitation.

He said: "Prison is about losing liberty and having tattoo parlours would be a liberty too far.

"There's also an issue about taxpayers' money going on something like this.

"Prison is about rehabilitation, but offering the opportunity to people to come out covered in tattoos is not going to be good for their employment prospects.

"Tattooing is something that should be discouraged in prison, not facilitated."

Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker called on the Scottish Government to throw out the proposal.

He said: "If prisoners are bored then this is a failure of the system that needs to give them more work to do."When money is tight the idea of spending taxpayers' cash on a tattoo parlour for convicts is obscene."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "This is an operational matter for the Scottish Prison Service - the issue is preventing the spread of hepatitis C, a potentially fatal blood-borne virus, within the prison estate."

The Scottish Prison Service said there were no current plans to open tattoo parlours in jails.

An SPS spokesman said: "One of the suggestions in the report is that there might be consideration of having a tattoo parlour in one of Scotland's prisons.

"The report has just been published and we as an organisation will look at it.

"It's a piece of research into something that's potentially problematic and it will be considered."