Prison release bid to head off slop-out cases

Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister, announced a series of emergency measures which she said would reduce the number of prisoners who are held in blocks without any night-time sanitation.

The move was in direct response to last month’s landmark legal judgment, which awarded compensation to Robert Napier, a prisoner who had to endure the "degrading" process of "slopping-out".

Aware that Lord Bonomy’s judgment could lead to a deluge of similar claims, costing the Executive millions of pounds, ministers have decided to try to end "slopping-out" as soon as possible.

Ms Jamieson announced that, as expected, the Executive will appeal against Lord Bonomy’s ruling - a process which is likely to take at least a year.

The minister also unveiled a range of other measures which she claimed would in the next two years reduce by 550 the number of prisoners having to use buckets at night instead of toilets.

These include: building temporary prison blocks at Castle Huntly and Cornton Vale to accommodate 200 prisoners; increasing the use of electronic tagging; extending home leave from three days to seven days at a time; and bringing in electronic monitoring to allow prisoners to go home before their official release dates.

The Executive has already announced plans to build two new prisons, but these measures will allow it to move prisoners around, away from halls where "slopping-out" exists.

A spokeswoman said the changes had not been priced, but Andy Kerr, the finance minister, had given an assurance that the cost would be met.

Ms Jamieson said: "I’m determined to carry through this reform programme so that Scotland has modern prisons where staff can work with prisoners to reduce re-offending."

But the Executive’s strategy is risky. By announcing such sweeping changes at the same time as appealing against Lord Bonomy’s judgment, ministers appear to be admitting that they could have made these changes earlier and only did so after being forced into it by the courts.

The Executive’s plans drew scorn from opposition politicians yesterday. Annabel Goldie, for the Tories, was particularly dismissive.

She said: "It is one thing to appeal the Napier case, but quite another to run up the white flag and issue get-out-of-jail cards to all and sundry.

"We still haven’t been told just when slopping-out will end. We still don’t know how much it will cost, and we still haven’t been advised how much money has been set aside to pay for compensation claims, if the appeal fails.

"Having created this monumental mess, the justice minister now wants to let prisoners out even earlier."

And she added: "It is bad enough that automatic early release lets convicts walk out of prison after sometimes serving only half their sentence, but this makes things even worse.

"Once again, we have been let down by Labour, and the only winners here are the criminals. This is a mess of Labour’s making."

Nicola Sturgeon, for the SNP, welcomed the Executive’s decision to appeal but accused ministers of failing to do enough to end the practice sooner.

Ms Sturgeon said: "It would make a mockery of justice for convicted criminals to receive massive payouts. Cathy Jamieson, therefore, has no option but to appeal. However, it should not be forgotten that this is a problem of the Executive’s own making.

"The slopping-out judgment should have come as no surprise to anyone. It was absolutely inevitable. The Scottish Executive was repeatedly warned, but for years now governments have failed to do enough to head off compensation claims.

And she added: "The taxpayer now faces hundreds of claims for compensation from prisoners, simply because ministers failed to invest in prison conditions."