Source · SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman)

Scottish Prison Service

SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Not Upheld Reference 201300625 Sector Prisons Category bullying/victimisation Decided 01 October 2013

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Full decision

Summary

Mr C, who is a prisoner, complained that the prison unreasonably refused his request for protection. Mr C said he feared for his safety from other prisoners, and that arrangements previously put in place by the prison to manage his circumstances had been removed.

Our investigation confirmed that the prison had taken steps to investigate Mr C's concerns about his risk from others. They undertook a detailed review of Mr C's circumstances and concluded that there was no evidence to corroborate his belief that he was at risk from others. Because of that, the prison wanted to gradually introduce Mr C back into the prison regime. In light of this information, we did not uphold Mr C's complaint.

In addition, Mr C said his complaint about an officer was not appropriately followed up. However, our investigation concluded that the deputy governor discussed this complaint with him and provided a written response in which he confirmed that he would speak to the officer concerned and if appropriate, would ask the officer to apologise to Mr C. The prison confirmed that the deputy governor did speak with the officer concerned and concluded that he should apologise, so we did not uphold this complaint.

Related reading

View Decision Report 201300625 as a PDF (11.15 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018

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