Christmas dinner is seen as the best part of the holiday season and it is no exception for those spending the holiday in Edinburgh’s Saughton Prison.
We can now reveal what meal the capital’s most notorious prisoners will tuck into on Christmas Day.
The average amount of money spent on feeding a prisoner a day in Scotland is £4.27, which makes it difficult to put on a full traditional spread.
But while prison meals may not be regarded as fine dining, many catering teams in jails across the country make an effort to mark the festive season for inmates behind bars.
The Record obtained festive menus for HMP Edinburgh as well as HMP Glenochil and HMP Barlinnie through a Freedom of Information request.
Saughton Prison is home to some of the capital’s most dangerous and violent inmates including crime boss Mark Richardson and drug kingpin Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson.
Some of the country’s most notorious killers as well as its most depraved criminals call HMP Edinburgh home.
Limbs in the Loch murderer William Beggs – who was jailed for life in 2001 after murdering and dismembering 18-year-old Barry Wallace – stays at the high-security prison alongside Edinburgh crime boss Mark Richardson and notorious drug kingpin Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson.
If last year is anything to go by, inmates will have one option for their Christmas lunch – and turkey is off the menu.
Prisoners look set to be served a soup of the day to start, followed by a main of chicken breast, rich gravy and a kilted sausage with mashed and roast potatoes served with seasonal vegetables. They will then be offered trifle for dessert.
Other snacks on offer to Richardson and co include noodles, fruit juice, chocolate bar and crisps.
Robert Mone is a notorious Scottish murderer and one of the UK’s longest-serving prisoners. He is known for two major violent incidents: a 1967 school shooting and a 1976 escape from the State Hospital at Carstairs that resulted in further murders.
He now stays at HMP Glenochil alongside double killer James O’Rourke – who was recently named as one of the 10 most dangerous prison inmates in the world after he admitted murdering a fellow inmate – and trans rapist Isla Bryson.
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Inmates look set to be offered a winter lentil soup for starter before their Christmas lunch is served. Again there’s just one option there – and this lot will also miss out on turkey.
On the menu is a roast chicken breast, pork, sage and onion stuffing, pigs in blankets, rich gravy, roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts and a medley of veg.
For those still peckish later on, though, the evening option doesn’t sound too appetising. The options on offer include a pot noodle, a packet of KP crisps – and a satsuma. Whether or not the satsuma comes served in a stocking alongside a lump of coal is yet to be confirmed.
Serial rapist Iain Packer was last year found guilty of murdering Emma Caldwell in remote woods near Glasgow in April 200 and now resides at the infamous Barlinnie Prison.
There’s more variety on offer for Packer and his fellow inmates, with a vegan option – and turkey is on the cards too.
Prisoners will be offered a traditional roast turkey with pigs in blankets, sage and onion stuffing, sweet cranberry and gravy – and for the non-meat eaters there’s the option of a vegan Wellington slice instead.
