Executive faces £1m legal bill over slopping out

Robert Napier won his court case against Scottish ministers at the end of last month after Lord Bonomy agreed with him that the practice breached his human rights.

Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister, said in a written answer to Linda Fabiani, an SNP MSP, that the bill for court proceedings amounted to 520,000. But last night, the SNP said the figure could top 1 million after legal aid and compensation were taken into account.

Ms Jamieson said that the Executive had spent 370,000 on lawyers’ fees and court costs. A further 98,000 was spent on expert witness reports and evidence, with 52,000 going on additional costs. The figures do not include the cost of the services of the Executive’s own in-house solicitors.

Ms Fabiani said the cost was "staggering", and she went on: "Equally worrying is the fact that they are going to appeal, bringing the prospect of another million pounds being spent.

"The judgment in the case was inevitable and the worry is that we could be faced with hundreds more cases against the Executive from prisoners who have been subjected to the same conditions."

She said the Executive should have made a greater attempt to end slopping out in the past.

However, Ms Jamieson said the Executive was making record levels of investment to improve prisons. "We are accelerating our reforms to improve prison conditions and create 200 new quick-build units on sites within the existing prison estate," she said.

"We inherited decades of neglect and it will take time to deal with it."

Napier, 24, launched his legal action in June last year, in an attempt to outlaw slopping out in Scotland’s largest prison. He claimed conditions in C Hall of Glasgow’s Barlinnie jail were unacceptable.

In his judgment, Lord Bonomy condemned a decision by ministers to take 13 million out of the prison service budget in 1999 to spend on other priorities, rather than addressing the slopping-out problem.

In Scotland, 18 per cent of the prison population - about 1,200 men - still have to slop out. The practice continues in five prisons - in areas of Barlinnie, Polmont, Perth and Edinburgh, and in the whole of Peterhead.