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Council of Europe's European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Report

On 8 October 2020, the Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee published its report on the United Kingdom focusing on Scottish prisons. This was a follow up to their 2018 visit. Many of their recommendations had not been implemented, particularly around high-secure mental health accommodation provision for women. This chimes with calls for governance of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to be revised and to find a way to make their recommendations legally enforceable.

Council of Europe's European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

On 11 October the Council of Europe’s European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment published a report on its visit to Scotland from 17 - 25 October 2018. Our Honorary President, Professor Andrew Coyle and Convenor, Professor Richard Sparks, were involved in consultations on HLS's behalf. 

The purpose of the visit was to examine the situation in police and prison establishments in Scotland and to assess the progress made since the CPT’s previous visit in 2012. Specific attention was paid to those held in segregation; in remand; women prisoners generally; and to overall healthcare issues. In addition, the delegation examined the treatment of people in police custody and carried out visits to several police custody facilities across Scotland. 

The Committee’s report made a number of criticisms of the treatment of people held in police custody, including instances of excessive use of force upon apprehension by police officers and an opaque police complaints’ system.

Its critique of prison establishments acknowledged that the Scottish Government had embarked upon an agenda of reform, but that reforms were still at a nascent phase. It noted a rise in inter-prisoner and prisoner-on-staff violence; the prevalence of NPS (new psychoactive substances); unacceptably restricted regimes; and inappropriate use of Separation and Reintegration Units (SRU).

Specific examples of a lack of progress since previous visits by the Committee included the use of “dog boxes” in the reception area of HMP Barlinnie – an issue which was first raised in 1994 – and which had not been resolved; and the negative impacts of severe overcrowding, where some prisoners were being held in cells with less than 3m2 each of living space.

Particularly serious concerns were raised about the treatment of women held in segregation at HMP YOI Cornton Vale, despite seven years having passed since the publication of the Commission on Women Offenders Report, led by Dame Elish Angiolini.

Three immediate observations were made under Article 8, paragraph 5 of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The contrast between the findings of the CPT and that of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland’s (HMIPS) programme of inspection and monitoring were also highlighted, despite the latter’s inspections adopting a human rights based approach underpinned by the PANEL principles of Participation, Accountability, Non-Discrimination and Equality, Empowerment and Legality.

The Response of the Government of the United Kingdom to the Report was a defensive one, unlikely to encourage long-term sustainable change. We will continue to push for action on the important issues raised in the Report.

Council of Europe’s European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Report

Response to Council of Europe’s European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Report

CPT Recommendations Scotland - March 2014

Progress must be made if Scottish prisons are to satisfy the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the European Convention on Human Rights. While progress has been made in the smooth transfer of prison health services to the NHS, the CPT have been critical of prison safety and expressed concerned over lack of meaningful and rehabilitative activity in a number of Scottish prisons. The most significant problems they highlighted were:

  • There were a number of allegations of excessive force by prison officers in Barlinnie and verbal abuse in Cornton Vale;
  • A number of prisoners in Kilmarnock felt unsafe and then prison was generally tense;
  • Upon admission to Barlinnie people were held in cupboard-like cublicles (1m squared, coloquially known as 'dog boxes');
  • Barlinnie prison is operating at 120% capacity;
  • Prisoners in Barlinnie are spending up to 22 hours a day in their cells;
  • Women held in HMP Edinburgh were also spending a similarly considerable percentage of their day confined to their cells. 

Their specific recommendations to the SPS were:

  • CPT advocates greater employment of alternatives to custody as the key means to reduce prison overcrowding; 
  • Recommends that serious mental health prisoners not be held in segregation units and be transferred more rapidly to appropriate in-patient facilities;
  • Clinical psychologists be employed to deal specifically with women prisoners who exhibit severe disorders;
  • Increased safeguards around discipline and segregation are necessary;
  • There must be increased support for foreign national prisoners.

Read the CPT Report here 

Read a summary of their report here: CPT report on the United Kingdom

Read a straightforward summary of Article 3 on the Prevention of Torture

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