Decision report 201204575

Summary

Mr C, who is a prisoner, was attending a course in prison. He considered that the course facilitator was not supportive when he had particular difficulties at one session. He also complained that the Scottish Prison Service (SPS)'s reply to his complaint had inappropriately criticised him.

Our investigation concluded that the facilitator's actions had been reasonable. For example, Mr C had said the facilitator did not visit him afterwards to see how he was, but the SPS guidance does not require or expect this. We also noted that, as he had expressed a lack of trust in the psychology department during the session, it was arranged for the head of psychology and another psychologist to visit him a couple of days later. The SPS had had difficulties in managing Mr C's behaviour over a period of time, and against that background we considered that it was reasonable for their reply to suggest that he had a poor attitude to custody.