The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published a report made following a visit to Scotland last October.

The CPT noted that the prison population of Scotland has continued to increase steadily, rising by nearly 500 prisoners – a 6.5 per cent increase – in one year, despite various measures pursued by the Scottish government to address this phenomenon.

In the consultations with the CPT’s delegation, the Scottish Prison Service’s (SPS) “frank response” on how to deal with the increase of the prison population in the medium-term was merely to “cope by overcrowding”.

The CPT said this is not a viable strategy and underlined that urgent measures are required to counter this trend.

The delegation was informed by the SPS that while the operating level of the Scottish prison estate stood at 7,669 places, it could be raised to an “emergency capacity” of 8,492. At the time of the delegation’s visit, there were 8,288 prisoners being held in Scottish prisons – an all-time high.

The committee was also concerned that the practice of moving “carousel” long-term segregated prisoners around the Separation and Reintegration Unit (SRUs) of Scottish prisons for years on end has not been adequately addressed by the authorities; one such prisoner had been held more or less continually for 10 years in multiple Scottish prisons.

In the CPT’s view, the lack of human contact and the disengagement by the SRU staff towards certain vulnerable inmates at the SRU Dumyat verged on institutional neglect. More generally, the CPT considers that the SRU of Cornton Vale is a totally inappropriate environment for holding vulnerable women prisoners, especially mentally ill and young women, for long periods of time.