Scottish Government criticised for failing to address prison overcrowding

The Scottish Government has failed to address concerns about overcrowding in the country’s prisons raised by an international human rights body. 

In 2018 and 2019 the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) visited prisons and police stations and made recommendations to ministers, however, a new report by watchdog, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), warns that many of these “remain unaddressed”.

The report authors say the Scottish Government reliance on establishing ‘working groups’ or ‘reviews’ as a means of implementing the CPT’s recommendations has “resulted in a delay in concrete action”.

They also criticise the lack of publicly available data, saying it “prevented a full assessment of the implementation of recommendations in some areas.”

The NPM warns that prisoners remain ‘institutionalised’ on segregation units at full capacity. 

They also say female prisoners with severe mental health disorders are not being transferred to an appropriate psychiatric facility, 

The group are calling on the Scottish Government to implement all CPT recommendations, and “undertake concerted and coordinated action between the executive, police, prosecution services and the courts” to look at alternatives to custody. 

Judith Robertson, Chair of the NPM Scottish sub-group, said: “The NPM Scottish sub-group welcomes the CPT recommendations made after the committee’s important 2018 and 2019 visits to Scotland and we acknowledge some positive steps taken by Government to respond to these.

“However, this report raises serious concerns. We call on the Scottish Government to implement the outstanding recommendations as soon as possible, in particular taking note of the need for a concerted effort to effectively apply the presumption of liberty. 

“This report is a significant step towards monitoring progress, but more work is needed by the Scottish Government to regularly monitor how these recommendations are addressed both now and in future.”

Responding to the report, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We welcome the report’s recognition that Scotland is continuing to improve the way human rights are safeguarded for people who are detained by the police or held in prison.

“We remain firmly committed to ensuring all aspects of policing and the prison system meet or exceed international standards and we value independent expert scrutiny.

“The wellbeing and safety of people in custody is a priority and we will continue to work with our criminal justice and healthcare partners to build on actions already undertaken – despite the pressures of the pandemic – to implement recommendations from the Council of Europe and the UN.

“Important advances have been made in areas such as police custody and the delivery of trauma-informed care for women. The report helpfully identifies a variety of other areas where further improvements can also be taken forward.

“We have provided an additional £50 million justice funding in this financial year, so that cases involving all accused, including those on remand, can be progressed and justice carried out in each case.

"Using the additional funding, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has announced plans to increase court capacity through the use of remote jury centres. This will see the daily operation of four additional high courts, two additional Sheriff Courts and up to 10 additional summary courts from September.”