Summary
Mr C said his complaints about swearing and the use of insulting language by prison staff had not been properly investigated.
We found that the steps taken to investigate and respond to the complaints Mr C made were reasonable in the circumstances.
There was a lack of evidence to corroborate Mr C's complaint about a particular incident because the CCTV footage did not record sound.
In respect of swearing, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) found there was conflicting evidence, with staff denying any use of profanity. SPS found there was evidence of antipathy between Mr C and some staff members in a particular work group which Mr C did not want to be part of. SPS agreed that Mr C could move to another work group, which we found was a reasonable solution in the circumstances. SPS issued a generic reminder to staff about expectations in terms of their behaviour. When Mr C told SPS he had been assaulted the matter was, appropriately, referred to Police Scotland for further investigation.
We did not uphold Mr C's complaint.
Related reading
View Decision Report 201507573 as a PDF (11.13 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018