COMPANIES WITH CURRENT PRISON LABOUR CONTRACTS WITH THE SCOTTISH PRISON SERVICE.
AITKIN ELECTRICAL Ltd.
5 Mathieson Road
RUTHERGLEN
Glasgow
G73 1BL
Tel: 0141 647 3111
Fax: 0141 613 1338
Email: sales@aitkenelectrics.com
Electrical wholesalers and manufacturers. Manufacture of cable tray lids at at HMP Barlinnie. A recent FOI release shows that there are 15 places in the workshop there and that the company provides no formal training. [02/11]
BARNARDO'S
Tanners Lane
Barkingside
ILFORD
Essex IG6 1QG
Tel: 0208 550 8822
Fax: 0208 551 6870
Email: info@barnardos.ork.uk
Two places in the HMP Edinburgh workshop making bags and peg bags for the charity. [20/11]
BSW TIMBER
East End
EARLSTON
Berwickshire
TD4 6JA
TEL: 01896 849255
FAX: 01896 848308
Email: marketing@bsw.co.uk
Have taken over production of timber side of HMP Glenochil, supplying timber to be made into sheds, garden furniture, etc. made for stock and distributed from the SPS stores at Fauldhouse, Bathgate, West Lothian. [12/06, updated 01/09]
CHAMPFLEURIE ESTATE LTD
Champfleurie House
LINLITHGOW
West Lothian
EH51 0AU
TEL: 01506 847999
FAX: 01506 847174
Email: info@ChampfleurieEstate.co.uk
Sheds, garden furniture, dog kennels & a gate from the Athol garden furniture range. [12/06, updated 01/09]
CRECA SAWMILLS
ANNAN
Dumfrieshire
DG12 6RP
Contact: Robert Mayor
FAX: 01461 500645
Part of Northwest Timber Products [Manchester area]. Buy Athol garden furniture & sheds. [12/06, updated 01/09]
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EARL HAIG POPPY FACTORY
New Haig House
Logie Green Road
EDINBURGH
EH7 4HR
Tel: 0131 557 2782
Fax: 0131 557 5819
Email: enquiries@poppyscotland.org.uk
Operate as poppyscotland (not to be confused with the Lady Haig Poppy Factory). Operate at HMP HMP Dumfries in same workshop (10 places) as Solway Recycling. [02/11]
EDINBURGH CITY COUNCIL
3.1, Waverley Court
4 East Market Street
EDINBURGH
EH8 8BG
Tel: 0131 200 2340
Fax: 0131 529 3603
Email: foi@edinburgh.gov.uk
HMP Edinburgh run a 12-place workshop project in partnership with the City Council for the manufacture of bird and bat boxes for use by local eco-diversity groups. [02/11]
RECYKE-A-BYKE
18-24 Abbey Road
Riverside
STIRLING
FK8 1LJ
Tel: 01786 447559
Email: admin@recyke-a-bike.co.uk
Project developed by Fallin Community Enterprises. Has 10 places at HMP Corton Vale refurbishing bikes prior to their sale by this 'social enterprise'. [02/11]
KDM INTERNATIONAL
18, The Havens
Ransomes Business Park
IPSWICH
Suffolk
IP3 95J
Contact: IVAN WALSH
ivan@kdm.co.uk
FAX: 01473 276911
Athol garden furniture, sheds, etc. [12/06, updated 01/09]
P & A FENCING
Mold Industrial Estate
Wrexham Road
MOLD
Flintshire
CH7 4HE
TEL: 01352 752555
FAX: 01352 755200
E-mail: sales@p-a-group.com
Athol sheds and garden products. [12/06]
SUE RYDER CARE
114-118 Southampton Row
LONDON
WC1B 5AA
Tel: 020 7400 0440
Fax: 020 7400 0441
Email: info@suerydercare.org
Seventeen places for prisoners in workshop at HMP Aberdeen recycling donated clothing for distribution to the charity's Scottish shops. Training of prisoners provided by the charity. [02/11]
SOLWAY RECYCLING Ltd.
Rigghead
Irongray
DUMFRIES
Dumfries and Galloway
DG2 9SH
Tel: 01387 730 666
Fax: 01387 730 669
Email info@solwayrecycling.co.uk
Recycle agricultural plastics. Prisoners at HMP Dumfries construct items from recycled materials supplied by the firm. [02/11]
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SPEEDY HIRE PLC
Chase House
16 The Parks
NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS
Merseyside
WA12 0JQ
Tel: 01942 720000
Fax: 01942 720077
Email: plc.admin@speedyhire.com
The latest firm to negotiate a Contract Services agreement with HMP Glenochil, in this case the refurbishments of tools and equipment. Currently there are 60 prisoners refurbishing motorway works lighting equipment and possibly other hire equipment. Speedy Hire have workshop training schemes with the Prison Service in England at HMP Garth and HMP Pentonville and have recruited a number of prisoners who have worked in their prison workshops upon their release. [07/08 & updated 01/09]
40 prisoners working conducting safety checks and repairs to tool/plant equipment before being offered for hire according to the latest FOI release. [02/11]
According to the Scottish Sunday Post [see: Speedy Hire 'Exploiting' Scottish Prisoners], the company have closed 37 depots with the loss of 300 jobs in the current economic climate, which probably explains why they favour using prisoners for the repair of their tools as they "earn no more than 56p an hour". [03/11]
The SPS website has a copy of a follow-up Sunday Post article that gives some of the same information but from a far more SPS-friendly stanpoint. [06/11]
STEWART FENCING LTD
Blairlinn Industrial Estate
11 Green Road
CUMBERLAND
Stratchclyde
G67 2TU
Tel: 01236 727776
Fax: 01236 780313
Athol garden furniture products. [12/06]
COMPANIES WHICH ARE UNDERSTOOD TO HAVE ENDED THEIR CONTRACTS WITH SPS IN RECENT YEARS.
AIRSPRUNG BEDS
Airsprung Beds Limited
Canal Road Industrial Estate
TROWBRIDGE
Wiltshire
BA14 8RQ
Once SPS's flagship contract, Airsprung beds pulled out of the contract on 30th July 2008 (see Airsprung Beds: The Great Transport Costings Mystery). Prisoners at HMP Shotts had been used to make bed frames for Airsprung, who sold their products to Argos, Bensons & The Bed Shed amongst others. SPS charge them £2.15 - £4.30 per bed frame and these items sell for over £100 (including mattress) in the shops.
This was a very profitable arrangement for Airsprung based on a neat system where they shipped the materials up from their factory in Wiltshire. These are then made up at HMP Shotts in a workshop fitted out by Airsprung themselves and the finished bed frames were then shipped back down to Wiltshire from the Fauldhouse depot.
However, persistent questioning of the way in which the contract was operating and about the possibility that SPS Industries were actually making a loss on certain types of bed frames that they made, together with the publicity surrounding this appear to have lead to the canceling of the contract.
Airsprung had also had contacts with 2 prisons in England, HMPs The Verne and Featherstone. As with Shotts, the contract with The Verne was for the manufacture of bed parts and the last delivery was made at the end of 2007. The other was more surprising, it was for the assembly of mattress units teaching PMOs (Performing Manufacturing Operations - designed to teach 'soft skills' such as timekeeping and teamworking) at HMP Featherstone near Wolverhampton and that contract ended in July 2008. [07/09]
ALFRED McALPINE
Elevator Road
Trafford Park
MANCHESTER
M17 1B
SPS prisoners had been making their wooden road frames (as seen on motorways) up till the firm were acquired by Carillion, who quickly cancelled the contract when they found out about McAlpine's SPS Industries connection. [00/09]
ANDREW MITCHELL & Co. Ltd.
15 Dunivaig Place
Easter Queenslie Estate
GLASGOW
G33 4TT
The assembly of hospital trolleys. [June 2007] Since discontinued, date unknown. [10/09]
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BELHAVEN BREWERIES
Sprott Road Industrial Estate
DUNBAR
East Lothian
EH42 1RS
FAX: 01786 465655
BISON SAFETY SYSTEMS
Unit 3
Callendar Business Park
FALKIRK
FK1 1XR
SPS helped make the Trailsafe Fall Arrest System for their lorries for a number of years. However, they ceased using SPS Industries and prison slave labour towards the end of 2007 due to the bad publicity.
BRITANNIA GARDEN PRODUCTS
Britannia House
Hertford Street
ASHTON UNDER LYNE
Lancashire
OL7 0TJ
Athol garden furniture. Contract not renewed. [01/09]
CHALLENGE FENCING
Downside Road
Downside
COBHAM
Surrey
KT11 3LY
Have ceased purchasing SPS Industries made garden furniture due to the bad publicity. [10/07]
A. DIAMOND & SON
35 Newmills Road
COLERAINE
Northern Ireland
BT52 2JB
Product unknown. [12/06] Contract cancelled due to increased shipping costs. [09/09]
FORSET GARDEN LTD.
Units 291 & 296
Hartlebury Trading Estate
Hartlebury
KIDDERMISNSTER
Worcestershire
DY10 4JB
Athol garden furniture products [01/09] Have since ceased trading with SPS Industries because, we are told, Athol products were no long Forest Stewardship Council certificated and SPS Industries had refused to recertificate since theirs lapsed in 2007. [10/09]
GIBBS SANDTECH
Station Road
Braughting
WARE
Hertfordshire
SG11 2PB
Modular paint drying racks. [January 09] New information suggests they no longer trade with SPS Industries, reason unknown. [10/09]
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GLENEAGLES HOTEL
AUCHTERARDER
Perthshire
PH3 1NF
Gleneagles Hotel pulled out of it's contract with SPS Industries in May 2007 due to the adverse publicity generated by it's being featured as one of CAPS Companies of the Month. Below is the text of that Company of the Month posting:
Yes, those nice people that hosted the 2005 G8 Summit: surrounding themselves with £1M 6 foot high steel fence, protected by over 10 000 police (many armed), some of them part of a helicopter-borne attack force. All backed up with SAS teams, snipers and US Marines, at a total cost of over £100M, 700 arrests and 350 people charged. Just to provide a nice comfortable few days in the Scottish countryside for that gang of crooks that like to pass themselves off as 'world leaders'. Yes, they use slave labour.
The inmates of HMP Low Moss in Bishopbriggs, north east of Glasgow, can't see the mountains and glens of Perthshire, location of the self-styled "Palace in the Glen", from where they are. And they certainly couldn't afford to pay for a room (the cheapest double rooms start at £285 a night) at Gleneagles, even if they were not banged up in some of the worst living conditions found in Scottish nicks, [1] with the pittance they are paid for their prison work. However, these 'guests at her majesty's pleasure' can always comfort themselves in the knowledge that they make their little contribution to the smooth running of this exclusive hotel and the comfort of its better class of customer. Low Moss prison's 'customers' do their bit by having to make laundry bags, which SPS sell to the hotel for £1.75 each, together with other high class textile laundry items as part of their rehabilitation. Beats hard labour breaking rocks I suppose.
So, next time you find yourself in a Gleneagles hotel room, check out the label on the inside of the bag and you will see SLM, HMP Low Moss' identification tag.
[12/06]
HILLHOUT LTD
Unit 18
Ellough Industrial Estate
Ellough Road
BECCLES
Suffolk
NR34 7TD
Another company that ceased buying SPS Industries garden furniture & fencing due to the bad publicity. [10/07]
LOMAX MOBILITY
Chalmers Building
Charles Bowman Avenue
Claverhouse Business Park
DUNDEE
DD4 9UB
Poly bags & other small items. [04/06]
Ceased using SPS Industries and prison slave labour due to the bad publicity. Have recently been taken over by Sunrise Medical, an American company who allegedly were more than a little distressed to find that Lomax were exploiting British slave labour. Pity that other US firms do not show the same ethical standards as Sunrise Medical, as the Prison Industrial Complex is even more rampant in the USA. [10/07]
MARTEC ENGINEERING
58 Southcroft Road
Rutherglen
GLASGOW
G73 1UG
Engineering, metal fabrication items – ramps, gates, etc. [12/06]
Have ceased using SPS Industries and prison slave labour due to the bad publicity. [10/07]
MERIT GARDEN PRODUCTS
Church Street
Thurston
BURY ST EDMONDS
Suffolk
IP31 3RG
Understood to have ceased trading with SPS Industries (garden furniture & fencing) due to the bad publicity. [10/07]
MIMS POTTERIES
76-80 Glentanar Road
Balmore Industrial Estate
GLASGOW
G22 7XS
TEL: 0141 336 2636
FAX:0141 336 2626
Email: sales@mimspottery.com
Product unknown [12/06]
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PETER SMITH GARDEN FURNITURE
Dick Lane
BRADFORD
West Yorkshire
BD4 8JD
Garden furniture, etc. [10/07]
ROYAL MAIL
Royal Amil House
Station Road
CHESTER
CH1 3AA
Royal Mail's contract with SPS Industries to supply delivery trolleys parts ended at the end of July 2009 and Royal Mail decided that they would not renew it. We understand that this was due to both bad publicity surrounding the contract and that they can buy them cheaper from China. [01/09]
TREW GATES
Unit 2-3
Yr Eifl Quarry
Trefor
CAERNARFON
Gwynedd
LL54 5LH
Ceased using SPS to manufacture gates and gate components. [02/06]
WICKES
Customer Services
Rhosili Road
Brackmills Industrial Estate
NORTHAMPTON
Northamptonshire
NN4 7JE
Used to use HMP GLENOCHIL to produce:
BOW TOP GATE [made for £15.00]
PALISADE FENCE PACK [made for £4.85]
FENCE POSTS [made for £1.28] [05/05]
However, our contacts have informed us that the unwanted publicity garnered by being named on this site towards the end of 2005 lead them to pull out of their contract with SPS. Up till then they had squeezed the price per item so much that SPS were loosing £2- per gate, not even covering the material costs. The stores at SPS HQ Industries' Central Store at Fauldhouse still hold WICKES stock left from before their pullout. WICKES now claim that none of their products are manufacture in prisons or by prisoners in Britain or other countries. [04/06]
