Decision Report 201404427

Summary

Mr C complained to us that there had been unreasonable delays by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) in facilitating his movement through the prison system in time for his parole hearing. Mr C had been transferred from a prison in England so that he could receive family visits. However, he needed a cell of his own and there was a waiting list for single cells in the prison he had been transferred to. Therefore, Mr C was transferred to another prison so that he could be given a single cell. Although Mr C considered that this had delayed his progression through the prison system, we found that this was a decision that the SPS were entitled to take.

Mr C was also unhappy that his former parole officer in England had not attended a meeting to discuss his progression. We found that the SPS had taken steps to try to arrange for the parole officer to participate in the meeting. As Mr C was unhappy that he had not attended, the SPS agreed to postpone this meeting to a later date so that the parole officer could participate and provide further information. We considered that this had been reasonable. We did not find evidence that there have been unreasonable delays by the SPS in facilitating Mr C's movement through the prison system and we did not uphold the complaint.