Decision report 201101581

Summary
Mr C complained about statements that he alleges an officer made to another prisoner. The prison could not investigate these complaints as the officer was not at work, however, they agreed to write to Mr C after the officer returned to duty.

Mr C complained about the prison's complaints handling. He said that the prison failed to write to him following the officer's return to duty, and that he had to pursue the matter himself. He also complained that the response he received differed to the response issued on the same day to the other prisoner.

We upheld both complaints with recommendations. We considered that the prison should have progressed the handling of Mr C's complaint. We also considered that the information provided to the other prisoner was relevant to Mr C's complaint and should also have been shared with him.

Recommendations
We recommended that the Scottish Prison Service:
• ensure they put systems in place to track the follow-up of commitments they have chosen to give;
• apologise to Mr C for failing to honour the commitment they gave to revert to him following an officer's return to duty;
• provide Mr C with a fuller response communicating all relevant available information; and
• apologise for failing to provide all relevant available information in the first instance.