It has been revealed that prisoners at the new Lothians' maximum-security prison will have en-suite cells with flatscreen televisions.
Detainees at the privately run HMP Addiewell in West Lothian will be able to order their meals in advance and have have access to multi-channel Freeview television.
Kalyx, the prison's operator, is to give prisoners four visits a month - two more than they are legally obliged to offer.
Politicians have raised concerns that the comfortable living in the jail would not provide a deterrent to re-offending.
Prison bosses insist that the conditions are to help in the rehabilitation of offenders.
The first 30 inmates are to arrive at the jail on December 12. This is Scotland's second private jail after Kilmarnock.
The new prisoners will find that cell window has adjustable ventilation, a computer room, a library, a gym hall and a fitness suite.
The jail has 12 wings which all have "electronic kiosks" so prisoners can check menus and order meals in advance, check how much money they have in their accounts, top-up phone accounts and order goods from the canteen.
Inmates with enhanced privileges will have in-cell access to satellite sports TV.
Audrey Park, director govenor of the prison, told the Edinburgh Evening News: "When we went to buy the TVs we could only buy flatscreen, which are only 15 inches, as you can't get the bulky ones and the Freeview is built into TVs now. You can't not have it.
"I would describe the cells as decent cells for a 21st-century Scotland where prisoners have the ability to shower in their cell.
"At the end of the day, any prison cell is a concrete box which we shut at night. The punishment is losing one's liberty."
The prison bosses explained that having showers in the cells will reduce the risk of violence in a communal shower block.
Tory Justice spokesman Bill Aitken MSP said: "I do not wish prisoners to live in Dickensian squalor, but there does come a time when the level of comfort does not provide any real deterrent to offending. By the sounds of Addiewell, we have reached that stage there.
"There are many people who might think that in these times of financial hardship, prisoners are getting a chance to live in conditions not available to the poorer, law-abiding sections of our society."
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Last updated: 03 December 2008, 07:00
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