Decision Report 201401645

Summary

Mr C, who is a prisoner, was placed on closed visits (where a prisoner and a visitor cannot make physical contact) due to his unacceptable behaviour. Mr C complained to us because he said the prison failed to review his closed visits status appropriately. He said he was not told that this was being reviewed, was not given the opportunity to make representations and was not told the outcome of the reviews.

In response to Mr C's complaint, the prison initially indicated that the correct process had been followed. We asked them to provide evidence to show us that this had happened. In response, they said that reviews of Mr C's closed visit status did take place. They could not, however, provide sufficient evidence to show us that this had actually happened, because the relevant paperwork was incomplete or unavailable. In the light of this, we upheld Mr C's complaint.

Recommendations

We recommended that Scottish Prison Service:

• apologise to Mr C for the failings identified in the prison's handling of the reviews of his closed visits status.
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