Decision Report 201707592

Summary

Mr C complained that the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) did not progress work on his management plan during his temporary transfer to another establishment. He was being held out of association with other prisoners (under Rule 95 of the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011) due to difficulties managing him and finding a suitable location for him. He was temporarily transferred to another establishment for operational reasons, and to give the SPS time to formulate a plan for his future management and location.

In responding to the complaint, the SPS said attempts had been made during Mr  C's temporary transfer to relocate him to another establishment. They said that options for his future management had consistently been pursued. However, they could not find evidence to support this and they acknowledged that the Rule  95 paperwork had not been fully completed to record all action taken. We acknowledged that there appeared to be difficulties for the SPS in managing Mr  C. However, as they were unable to demonstrate that steps had been taken to implement or explore agreed actions during his temporary transfer, we upheld this complaint.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

• Apologise to Mr C for not being able to clearly demonstrate that steps were taken to plan for his future management and location during his temporary transfer. The apology should meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available at www.spso.org.uk/leaflets-and-guidance.

What we said should change to put things right in future:

• The SPS should tell us what they will do to ensure future adherence to the Rule 95 process, particularly in relation to being able to demonstrate that steps have been taken to implement or explore agreed actions.

We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.