Dr Hannah Graham

Twelve people died in riots in Italian jails last month after prisoners objected to restrictions on visits.

Hannah Graham, a criminologist at Stirling University, said the authorities in Scotland had been slow to provide protections to prisoners but needed to go further.

Speaking to Good Morning Scotland, she said: “At the moment there are 101 prisoners self-isolating across 10 prisons, and that is down from 125 the day before.

“We’ve got fairly astronomical numbers of prisoners and prison staff self-isolating in England and Wales.

“We need to see more action, not only to prevent the risk of coronavirus spreading but also to reduce tensions and reduce the risk of riots, because that is a very real possibility in prisons in different countries.

“In Italy there were riots in response to changes inside prisons to try and reduce the spread of the virus, and 12 prisoners died — not from coronavirus but from riot-related concerns, and 60 escaped.”

Phil Fairlie, chairman of the Prison Officers Association Scotland, said prisons were well equipped with masks and gloves but that there were still shortages of hand sanitiser and aprons.