This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Napier judgement on prison conditions
26/04/2004
The Executive has today given its initial reaction to the judgement of Lord Bonomy in the Napier case concerning slopping out in prisons.
An Executive spokesperson said:
We have received Lord Bonomys 100-page judgement and are considering it carefully, including the possible grounds for appeal.
We believe that investment should go to modernising prisons, not compensating prisoners. That is why the Executive contested Robert Napiers claim for damages.
Scottish Ministers view has consistently been that slopping-out is undesirable and that the right way to end slopping-out is through comprehensive modernisation of the prison estate. Ministers investment decisions have always been taken in good faith and with that aim in mind.
Ministers have made available record levels of capital investment to the Scottish Prison Service to implement that policy, including £110m announced in September 2002 at the outcome of the Estates Review.
Ministers argued in Napier that their decision to allocate 13m pounds to other high priorities like drug enforcement as part of end-year flexibility was perfectly legitimate, and in no way undermined their overall aim of modernising the prison estate and ending slopping out.
In 2000 the Executive instigated a major review of the prison estate to decide future estate requirements and priorities for investment. That review had a very broad remit and included consideration of whether existing prisons from the Victorian era should be retained and refurbished, new prisons built or a combination of these approaches. While the future of Barlinnie was under fundamental review in this way, Ministers decided it would not be an effective use of public funds to invest in refurbishment at that time.
Against a backdrop of record numbers of prisoners, SPS is investing at a rate of 1m pounds a week to improve conditions in Scotlands prisons. C Hall in Barlinnie, where Mr Napier was held, has been modernised and toilets fitted in the cells. Work is under way right now to do the same in A Hall. When that is completed later this year, four out of five halls in Barlinnie will have been modernised.
SPS has opened, within time and budget, two brand new halls at Edinburgh and Polmont, a total investment of 35m pounds. Work is under way on two further new halls, at Edinburgh and Glenochil, as part of development plans for completely modernising four prisons (Polmont and Perth being the other two). SPS is taking forward urgently plans for two new prisons, as announced following the Estates Review.