SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Partly Upheld

Scottish Prison Service

201507885 · Prisons › complaints handling · Decision date: 01 April 2017

Full Decision

Summary

Mr C complained about the handling by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) of his complaints about confidential matters. During our investigation we found no evidence of fault in the SPS's handling of Mr C's complaints and we therefore did not uphold this complaint.

Mr C also complained that the SPS had failed to facilitate his contact with the police. In particular, that they had incorrectly advised him that he could contact the police directly. While we were satisfied that Mr C was advised that his legal team could contact the police on his behalf, we were concerned that he had been given inaccurate information about contacting the police directly. We were also concerned that he had not been advised that managers could contact the police on his behalf. We therefore upheld this aspect of Mr C's complaint.

Recommendations

We recommended that the SPS: apologise for incorrectly advising Mr C that he could contact the police directly.

Related reading

View Decision Report 201507885 as a PDF (11.92 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018