Justice Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Official Report 527KB pdf

Covid-19 (Prisons and Young Offenders)

Item 2 is consideration of correspondence from the Scottish Human Rights Commission and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, in which they raise a number of issues regarding the impact of Covid-19 on those in prisons and young offenders institutions.

I refer members to paper 3 and ask whether they have any comments or views, and whether they would like the committee to take any specific action. I remind members that one possible action would be to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service to ask them to respond to the issues that the correspondence raises.

I will comment briefly on each of the letters; I am grateful to all those who have taken the time to write to the committees.

In its submission, Social Work Scotland provides some interesting information in respect of rural areas, including its use of the Caledonian system to deal on a one-to-one basis with perpetrators of domestic violence against women and girls.

The letter from the criminal justice voluntary sector forum, which outlines the third sector response, mentions that there is

“a higher level of engagement”

as a result of remote activity. However, it notes that that is offset by some of the mental health challenges, and emphasises

“the importance of face to face contact”.

I found that interesting.

I found the submission from the Scottish Human Rights Commission, and the submission from the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, which starts by saying “We agree with” the SHRC, very troubling, and I am very keen that the committee follows up on the concerns that are raised.

When a body such as the SHRC says that

“some prisoners’ fundamental rights are not being respected”,

we must certainly pay attention. The SHRC submission details a number of factors—it is available online, so I will not go through all of them, but I will highlight a few. It states that prisoners have “limited” access to a lawyer and that

“the state’s human rights obligations”

are not being met. It also highlights the steps that the state should take in the current crisis to ensure that impacts are “minimised, proportionate” and “in accordance with law.”

Similarly, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland highlights significant issues, not least limited access to education and social work support. It also states that

“There is no evidence that the ... rights of children”

were considered in respect of the early-release provisions, and it highlights the Howard League’s support for that view.

I would want the committee, at the very least, to write to the cabinet secretary about those matters, because they are very important and raise fundamental human rights issues.

I largely agree with everything that John Finnie has said. A couple of pieces in the submission from the children’s commissioner were also concerning: that children and young people

“are currently being confined in their cells for up to 23 hours a day and those who are showing symptoms of Coronavirus are isolated in their cells for 24 hours a day”;

that family contact does not appear to be taking place; and that mobile phones do not seem to have been provided yet. I definitely think that writing to the cabinet secretary and the Scottish Prison Service would be in order.

I do not have much to add; Rona Mackay and John Finnie have covered it exceptionally well. Like them, I am grateful that the Scottish Human Rights Commission and the children’s commissioner have written to us to shed light on what is happening. I do not think that they have spared us the alarming details. Writing to the cabinet secretary and the SPS would be entirely appropriate. It would be worth planting in particular some of the issues that John and Rona have mentioned, but there are other issues in the staff reports as well that we—[Inaudible].

I also note the Scottish Human Rights Commissioner’s concerns about

“the lack of transparent and accessible data currently available to enable adequate monitoring of prison conditions and their impacts.”

Given all the comments from members, are we agreed to write the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service to ask them to respond to the quite worrying issues that have been raised?

Members indicated agreement.