Scottish cells ‘breach torture standards’
One in four prisoners in Scotland is in a cell below the minimum size set down by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).
Figures released by the Scottish Government show that 2,230 prisoners are in shared cells with less than 4 square metres of personal space per person – the floor area stipulated by the CPT.
The figures were disclosed in response to a question from the Scottish Liberal Democrats, whose justice spokesperson Liam McArthur said: “On the SNP’s watch, not only are prisons bursting at the seams but the conditions inside many of them contravene basic standards for humane treatment.”
Defending its treatment of prisoners, the SNP-led Scottish Government pointed out that in many cases the living space was only marginally below the CPT standard. Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), said: “Whilst the Council of Prevention of Torture’s minimum standard is four metres squared plus fully partitioned sanitary facilities, not complying with that does not constitute breach of the law.”
“Not only are prisons bursting at
the seams but the conditions inside many of them contravene basic standards for humane treatment.”
Further research found that in 36 cells, the space for two people was 7 square metres, equivalent to 3.5 square metres each. Most of these cells were in HMP Edinburgh, otherwise known as Saughton prison.
The prison population in Scotland rose by 9 per cent over the course of 2023, from 7,300 at the start of the year to 7,958 at the end of December. A report in December by the Auditor General for Scotland, Stephen Boyle, warned that increasing the SPS’s target operating capacity from the current level of 8,007 to 8,475, to cope with increasing prisoner numbers, would mean jails operating under restricted regimes. They would meet their legal requirements such as providing prisoners with access to open air and visits, but have to curtail other activities such as work and recreation.
In his 2022/23 audit of the SPS, Boyle also said that Scotland’s reliance on prison buildings which are “no longer fit for purpose” poses a “significant risk”.
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