This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Scottish Prison Complaints Commission annual report
02/08/2006
This year the Scottish Prison Complaints Commission received the highest number of complaints in its 12 years of operations, according to the Commissioner's annual report published today.
The Commission received 460 complaints in 2005-06, of which 363 were judged to be within the Commission's remit. This compares with 388 last year, of which 259 fell within the Commission's remit.
The report also shows that:
- The Commission helped to achieve conciliation in 127 cases this year - a 120 per cent increase from 58 last year
- For the first time the Commission did not need to file any formal recommendations with the Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service
- The greatest number of complaints, 37 per cent, came from prisoners held in HMP Dumfries. Their most common source of complaint was the prison regime and relate to a range of policies including exercise, education and prison transfers
- Across the prison estate the most common causes of complaint were orderly room proceedings, held when a prisoner is charged with a breach of the prison rules, staff and prison regimes.
This year also marked some significant firsts for the Commission with some of the most noteable being:
- Information seminars were held as part of prisoner induction programmes at Polmont and Cornton Vale to ensure that the Commission was engaging with women and children
- The Assistant Commissioner and Caseworker spent a day in the office of the Prisons and Probabtion Ombudsman for England and Wales to witness and learn from the processes followed in handling a much larger complaints service
- The Prison Ombudsman for Northern Ireland spent a day with the Commission to learn and share best practice ideas.
Prison Complaints Commissioner Vaughan Barrett said:
"The peaceful resolution of prisoner grievances will help to reduce hostility and make prisons safer places. This is not only conducive to prison staff and prisoners' well being but it is likely to have a positive influence on a prisoner's disposition when he is released and will hopefully contribute to a reduction in re-offending.
"This year the Commission received the largest number of complaints in its 12 year history. The challenges faced by our staff in considering, investigating and responding timeously to such a high volume of complaints were significant. I am extremely pleased to report that we maintained our standard of completing our investigations and issuing final responses within six to eight weeks in 70 per cent of cases.
"It is a remarkable achievement that conciliation was achieved in 127 complaints, representing an almost 120 per cent increase on last year's total. This is an achievement for which the Commission's staff, Scottish Prison Service (SPS) staff at the local level and prisoner complainants all deserve credit.
"One third of the complaints this year were from prisoners at HMP Dumfries. The majority of these were filed by five prisoners. A significant number stemmed from the change in prisoner demographics from primarily short-sentence, local prisoners to a mixture of long-term, local and protection prisoners. Long-term prisoners and protection prisoners, who need to be kept separate from mainstream prisoners due to their personal circumstances or the nature of their convictions, have different programme and staffing needs and Dumfries Prison has had to adapt to this change.
"I am disappointed that there has been no forward movement on the proposal we filed in January 2005 that the Commission should be given a formal remit under an act of Parliament. A clear remit would allow better understanding of the role of our office, would allow us to speak with greater authority and enhance our position with prisoners and SPS staff. I would encourage MSPs to treat this matter with some priority.
"Overall the Commission has achieved a number of successes this year and I would like to thank our staff for their dedication and hard work."
Background
The Scottish Prison's Complaints Commission was created in 1994 fulfilling a commitment within the Justice Charter for Scotland. The Commission provides an independent element of review for prisoner complaints that have not been resolved through the internal complaints system of the Scottish Prison Service. When the Commission finds merit in a complaint efforts are made to find a solution through discussions with the prisoner and prison staff at the local level. For those complaints that remain unresolved, the Commission can file formal recommendations with the Chief Executive of the Prison Service for remedial action to be taken.
The Commission's 2005-2006 Annual Report provides an overview of the Commission's work, catalogues the number of complaints received, the nature of the complaints and how those which fell within the Commission's authority were managed. It also gives examples of cases resolved through conciliation and provides comment on formal recommendations. Observations are also made by the Commissioner on those issues that had impact on the Commission's operations.
The current Complaints Commissioner, Mr. Vaughan Barrett, brings extensive experience working with prisoner related issues to his position. As a barrister and solicitor in Canada he served as the Director of the Victoria Prison Project from 1990-97 and argued cases on prisoner's behalves at every level of Provincial and Federal Canadian Courts. Prior to his appointment as Commissioner in June 2003 he maintained his own law practice in Canada specialising in prison law, immigration law and human rights. He has presented numerous lectures on prison related topics at universities in Canada and the UK and been a guest speaker at a number of conferences and meetings in Canada, the UK and Europe.