Decision report 201201756

Summary

Mr C, who is a prisoner, uses a mobility aid and has a heart condition. He complained that, despite having a disability, he was double cuffed (a more secure method of handcuffing) when being escorted from a holding cell to court. In response to the complaint, the escort service acknowledged that a risk assessment should have been carried out, but said that they could not be certain whether or not Mr C had been double handcuffed. In addition, they told Mr C that they would take further action to develop guidance for staff on how to deal with prisoners who have disabilities in such circumstances. 

We were unable to clearly establish what happened in relation to Mr C being handcuffed, but we upheld his complaint, as there was a failure to document that a risk assessment had been carried out to show that he had been safely and securely escorted.

Recommendations
We recommended that Scottish Prison Service:

• consider recording on a prisoner's record, after a prisoner has been escorted, the type of handcuffing style that has been used; and
• provide the Ombudsman with a copy of the new protocol on how staff should deal with prisoners who have disabilities.