Inmates lose fight to stop slopping out

The seven, including child molester Nigel Mackenzie and rapist Gavin Davidson, wanted the court to grant them orders guaranteeing access to proper toilets, because they claim slopping out is "degrading".

But their claim for temporary orders to be granted under European Human Rights law has been thrown out by a judge.

The prisoners could still win pay-outs, however, as the courts have still to rule on their claims for compensation. The seven are housed in A Hall at Saughton which is used for prisoners who require protection from other inmates.

They are provided with a chamber pot and plastic container for night-time toilet use and require to slop out in the morning. They wanted judge Lord Carloway to grant interim orders stopping them from having to use toilets in a shared cell and guaranteeing them access to proper toilet facilities.

But Lord Carloway at the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled that he was not prepared to grant the orders at this stage. The judge said it would wrong to make such an order, which would commit the Scottish Executive to substantial expense, without giving them the chance to respond to the prisoners’ claims.

"It is clear that were the court to decide in their favour, the implications would be considerable since the petitioners here do not appear to be in a materially different position from others in the particular hall or throughout Saughton and, no doubt, many other penal institutions," he said.

"A change in regime of the type envisaged would involve substantial expenditure either on prison fabric or fittings or on manpower for the night shift," he said.

Lord Carloway said he would refuse to grant the interim orders sought at this stage in the proceedings. The prisoners have raised an action for judicial review and claim they are being detained in conditions that violate articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. As part of that they are also seeking damages totalling 87,000. Those actions continue, despite the initial ruling against them.

The seven prisoners involved in the case include former taxi driver Davidson, 45, who was jailed for ten years for rape and is seeking 15,000 compensation, Mackenzie, 36, who was jailed for seven years last month for abusing boys and wants damages of 12,000.

The others are Angus McPherson, 28, who is suing for 18,000, Thomas Connor, 77, also suing for 18,000, Graeme Turnbull, who wants 12,000, Paul Nicol, 39, who seeks 7000 and Walter Allan, 44, who is suing for 5000

Apart from the toilet conditions, a number of other complaints have been raised about the size, lighting, cleanliness, heating and ventilation in cells.

They claim that conditions give rise to increased risks to health and have caused them "to experience feelings of loss of self-esteem, stress, depression, disgust, embarrassment, humiliation and mental anguish".

The action was raised following an earlier case in which robber Robert Napier secured a ruling that the conditions he was held in, which included slopping out as a remand prisoner in Glasgow’s Barlinnie prison, were degrading and breached the human rights convention. His eczema flared up and he was awarded 2450.