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Case ref:201602309
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Date:November 2016
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Body:Scottish Prison Service
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Sector:Prisons
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Outcome:Upheld, recommendations
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Subject:complaints handling
Summary
Ms C complained to the prison governor after a prison officer refused to let her visitors attend a pre-booked children's visit. She was unhappy with the governor's response. In particular, Ms C said the governor failed to acknowledge or respond to points that she raised in her PCF2 complaint. PCF2 is the name of the form used to make a confidential complaint about a sensitive or serious issue.
We reviewed the information available and this confirmed that the governor appropriately obtained a statement from the officer who took the decision to refuse Ms C's visitors. The governor also communicated his findings to Ms C. However, he did not respond to the specific outcomes Ms C noted that she was looking for. We considered that doing so would have been reasonable and would have demonstrated good complaints handling. Therefore, we upheld Ms C's complaint.
Recommendations
We recommended that Scottish Prison Service:
- take steps to remind governors that they should respond appropriately and in full to issues raised in PCF2 complaints.