Gallagher is a prisoner in Inverness

John Gallagher served a 20-year sentence for murder and was a ringleader in a 1980s prison riot.

The 55-year-old is on the Self Management Recovery Training (SMART) programme at Inverness Prison.

He has told BBC Scotland Radio's Action Scotland how it has helped him and should be more widely available.

Gallagher insists his views on SMART are not part of his parole due after serving a sentence for another crime, but come from his genuine belief that the scheme helps criminals to change their behaviour.

The man once described as one of Scotland's most dangerous prisoners acts as a listener to other prisoners on the programme.

SMART is for the community as such. They should start it within the community and then we can down load the prisons John Gallagher

After parole next year, he will train as a SMART facilitator.

He said: "I see SMART becoming very, very big in Scotland - as it should - not only for offending behaviour."

Social worker Agnes Sangster tells Action Scotland how the scheme has four key areas covering motivation, coping with urges, problem solving and lifestyle balances.

Gallagher tells the radio programme how he escaped and went on the run for five days before being re-captured at a roadblock manned by the SAS and serious crime squad near Loch Lomond.

Prison riot

He also explains how he became involved in a notorious Peterhead Prison riot in the 1980s.

Alistair MacDonald, a former governor at Inverness Prison and one of the first prison officers to meet Gallagher after his escape, said prisoner-led sessions could be a way forward in tackling re-offending.