Decision Report 201904374

Summary

C was removed from association (no contact with other prisoners) in prison on a specific occasion. C did not believe that their removal from association had been properly handled by the Scottish Prison Service (the SPS). C submitted several complaints about specific details of the handling of their removal from association in this period. C was dissatisfied with the responses they received and made their complaints to our office.

We found that C’s removal from association was handled appropriately and did not uphold this complaint.

In relation to the handling of C’s complaints, we found that the SPS did not respond to C’s complaint that an officer was inaccurately named as having been present at a case conference until this office became involved. We also found that they did not refer to the new evidence C provided in their complaint nor clarify that the SPS’s view remained as set out in their previous responses. Given this, we upheld C’s second complaint.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

• Apologise to C that they did not handle their complaints reasonably. The apology should make clear mention of each of the failings identified and meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available at www.spso.org.uk/information-leaflets.

In relation to complaints handling, we recommended:

• The SPS should provide complaint responses that directly address the complaints raised, refer to any new evidence provided and, where directing complainants to previous responses, make clear whether their view remains as set out in those previous responses.

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.