It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "cowboy builders" but SNP MSP and Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill has said that convicts should be let out (presumably on licence) to work on major construction projects, including facilities for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

According to The Scotsman, reporting a speech by MccAskill at a conference on the need for penal reform, he said he was eager to involve the private sector in rehabilitating prisoners and reducing the prison population.

He said the construction industry was facing a labour shortage and suggested that sending prisoners at Barlinnie jail in Glasgow on building projects would be more productive than keeping them behind bars.

"It's in our interests when we have got the M74 north extension, the construction of the Commonwealth Games stadia, the construction of the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, with Poles returning to their country." he is quoted as saying.