Decision report 201100807

Summary
Mr C complained that the prison lost a ring that belonged to him, and were refusing to compensate him for it. When we investigated the complaint, we found that the SPS failed to act in line with the prison rules and SPS procedures. This meant that Mr C's property, including a ring, that was handed in to the prison was not recorded. There was also a failure to thoroughly investigate Mr C's claim for loss of property. Having said that, while we could conclude that the SPS failed to record receipt of items of Mr C's property, we could not prove that the SPS lost the specific ring to which Mr C referred. Therefore, we did not uphold Mr C's complaint. However, we made a number of recommendations to address the failings we identified in Mr C's case and to help prevent a recurrence of such problems in future.

Recommendations
We recommended that the SPS:
• review Mr C's claim for loss of property, in line with SPS Circular 48/1992, and contact Mr C with the outcome;
• ensure that investigations into claims for loss of property record all evidence obtained; and
• ensure property cards include more accurate and detailed descriptions of items; a record of how items come into prison; and legible recording of property.