On 25 July 2024, SHRC (Scottish Human Rights Commission) and NPM (National Preventive Mechanism) published a significant report: ‘Review … Recommend … Repeat … An assessment of where human rights have stalled in places of detention’. The report reviews recommendations made by international human rights bodies at the United Nations, and the European Committee on the Prevention of Torture, over a 10-year period in prisons and the forensic mental health estate. Having examined 29 specific recommendations, they found that 24 were making little or no progress; 5 were making significant progress; and 0 were complete. They have since identified 3 areas for further action: i) deaths in detention (including custody); ii) transfers between prisons and mental health facilities; iii) Orders for Lifelong Restriction.

On 14 June 2024,  HMIPS published a damning Thematic Review of Prison Progression in Scottish Prisons. The views of 1,154 people in total were taken into account. It concluded that not one part of the progression system was operating as it should. There are blockages at every stage of the process. There’s a lack of transparency and any understanding of it is confined to a very small group of people. Most prisoners were completely unaware of progression criteria for example. Amongst 58 recommendations, HMIPS called for the whole progression process to be reviewed. SPS say it’s committed to reviewing and resolving all issues.