THE founder of a charity which rehabilitates ex-offenders says providing more training opportunities is key to tackling overcrowding in Scotland’s prisons.

Glasgow-based Open Gates was set up by Pat Clark, who himself had been in and out of prison from the age of just nine until he was 33.

Looking back on that time, the 76 year-old said: “I couldn’t stay out of trouble, not once did I ever get out of prison without thinking I was going to go back again.”

Having turned his own life around, his charity aims to “stop the revolving door back into prison” by training both prisoners and former inmates in vocational skills such as upcycling furniture, food hygiene, and PAT testing of electrical goods, boasting a re-offending rate of just 15 per cent.

Arguing that many young offenders are “halfway through a criminal life, there’s a lot of them and they need looking after, as they are so confused and mixed up with violence,” Mr Clark recommended “early release with full training schemes… government training schemes.”