Annex 2

EXTRACT FROM SECOND PRISON SURVEY

Change in Cornton Vale

The Establishment

Cornton Vale, built in 1976, houses all females remanded or sentenced by the courts in Scotland, except for Inverness, Dumfries and Aberdeen where local remands are held pending sentence. Cornton Vale is the only fully female establishment in Scotland. Its catchment area covers the entire country and it is required to cater for all classes of prisoner and young offender. At the time of the last survey, with the exception of gate duties all Cornton Vale staff were female. However, the introduction of opposite sex postings has meant that some 25% of uniformed staff are male officers.

At the time of the survey Cornton Vale had 180 staff and held 132 adult prisoners and 19 young offenders.

i. The Cornton Vale Prisoners' Perspective

The results from the Cornton Vale prisoner ratings are shown in Table 5.9. All of the individual ratings showed a deterioration across the two surveys. Marked changes took place in: food (from 57 to 47, particularly in prisoners' views on its quality and the way it is served); prison fabric (from 90 to 67, notably the level of heating and ventilation and the overall state of repair of the prison - this last point may be explained by the fact that the prison is currently undergoing major improvements); general facilities (from 63 to 45, with particular concern expressed about facilities for exercise); standards of care (from 78 to 55, notably in reported views on education and dental care); access to official channels of complaint (from 69 to 49, in particular, there was a deterioration in the rating for access to governor grades); relationships with staff (from 96 to 76); and atmosphere (from 87 to 72, particularly in the reported ratings for atmosphere in the prison generally as opposed to the living quarters).

ii. The Cornton Vale Staff Perspective

Table 5.10 shows the ratings from Cornton Vale staff across the two surveys. Those areas where there was marked improvement were: food (from 74 to 92, in both the ratings for quality and the choice of menu); muster room facilities (from 43 to 56, with considerable improvements reported in facilities for cooking food and physical recreation); and relationships with specialists (from 86 to 95). There was deterioration in the following areas: views on staff cooperation (from 78 to 55, with particular deterioration in views on the quality of relationships and the presence of rivalry in the prison); staff views on management (from 63 to 51, particularly in their views on the level of staff/management conflict); morale (from 72 to 33); and staff training (from 88 to 53).

TABLE 5.9 CORNTON VALE PRISONER PERCEPTION RATINGS

Cleanliness Year '94 '91 Your hall 89 100 Your cell 95 100 The toilets 87 100 The showers 87 100 The dining area 88 97 Your clothes 90 92 The visits area 85 92 CLEANLINESS RATING 89 97 Food Year '94 '91 The choice of menu 45 44 The quality of the food 40 61 The way in which the food is served 44 62 The range of items available from the canteen 57 62 FOOD RATING 47 57 Prison Fabric Year '94 '91 The overall state of repair of the prison 56 92 The level of heating in the prison generally 60 80 The level of noise in the hall 81 97 The level of noise in the prison generally 86 100 The level of ventilation in the prison 66 84 The level of attention paid to Health and Safety matters 56 89 PRISON FABRIC RATING 67 90 Facilities Year '94 '91 Recreation 57 68 Indoor exercise 44 63 Outdoor exercise 36 58 FACILITIES RATING 45 63 Standard of Care Year '94 '91 Education 60 78 Medical care 29 41 Dental care 49 73 Psychological care/advice 48 85 Social work care/advice 69 89 Religious care/advice 77 100 STANDARD OF CARE RATING 55 78 Access Year '94 '91 The visiting committee 44 63 Legal advice/lawyers 75 82 Governors 35 79 The police 42 53 ACCESS RATING 49 69 Relationship with Staff Year '94 '91 Governor grades in the prison 76 97 Male staff in your hall 77 95 Officers in the prison generally 75 97 RELATIONSHIP WITH STAFF RATING 76 96 Relationship with Prisoners Year '94 '91 Prisoners in your hall 100 99 Prisoners in the prison generally 96 97 RELATIONSHIP WITH PRISONERS RATING 98 99 Relationship with Specialists Year '94 '91 Education Staff 88 100 Social work staff 83 88 Psychologist 73 92 Doctors 52 74 RELATIONSHIPS WITH SPECIALISTS RATING 74 88 Atmosphere Year '94 '91 The prison generally 54 78 Your hall or dormitory 81 88 Your workshop/work party 81 94 ATMOSPHERE RATING 72 87 Access to Family Year '94 '91 Access to family and friends 49 65 The length of visits 67 45 The ability to switch visits around 24 50 Facilities for children at visits 33 13 The level of privacy at visits 7 13 Access to pay phones in prison 64 63 ACCESS TO FAMILY RATING 41 42 Percentage of prisoners with access to showers more than once a week 97 100 Percentage of prisoners whose underwear is changed more than once a week 85 94

TABLE 5.10 CORNTON VALE STAFF PERCEPTION RATINGS

Capability of Senior Staff Year '94 '91 Senior staff in the prison know what goes on 52 56 Senior staff would listen to any suggestion about the running of the prison 47 50 CAPABILITY OF SENIOR STAFF RATING 49 53 Cooperation Year '94 '91 Relationships are good in the SPS 48 72 Cooperation is high among the various divisions in the prison 67 75 Rivalry is not a common feature of staff relations in this prison 51 87 COOPERATION RATING 55 78 Performance Year '94 '91 Staff in the SPS take a strong pride in the quality of their work 94 82 The SPS places a great deal of emphasis on staff development and training 50 77 As an organisation, the SPS is often taken by surprise by events 88 80 The SPS is committed to improving its performance 89 85 The work done by the SPS is valued by the public 40 41 As an organisation, the SPS is good at communicating its new ideas to staff 26 59 PERFORMANCE RATING 65 71 Management Year '94 '91 Management in the SPS have a high confidence in the capabilities of the staff 61 84 The style of management in the SPS is to reward/punish good/bad performance 39 48 SPS management are always ready to make changes to the system when the situation demands 56 69 The SPS places a high value on staff participation in the running of the system 72 75 Conflict between staff and management is low in the SPS 25 52 Staff can be trusted to do a good job without excessive supervision 92 90 MANAGEMENT RATING 51 63 Prison Fabric Year '94 '91 The overall state of repair of the prison 95 89 The level of heating in the prison generally 95 90 The level of noise in the prison generally 96 95 The level of ventilation in the prison 96 85 The level of attention paid to Health and Safety 82 89 PRISON FABRIC RATING 93 90 Staff Training Year '94 '91 Training 53 88 STAFF TRAINING RATING 53 88 Cleanliness Year '94 '91 The halls 86 90 The toilets 86 90 The showers 89 90 The dining areas 93 93 CLEANLINESS RATING 89 91 Food Year '94 '91 The choice of menu 99 78 The quality of food 86 69 FOOD RATING 92 74 Muster Room Year '94 '91 Relaxation 31 13 Privacy 29 24 Eating (in the canteen) 96 90 Showering 32 29 Washing 52 40 Physical recreation 79 81 Cooking food 71 46 MUSTER ROOM RATING 56 43 Atmosphere Year '94 '91 In the prison generally 95 98 In the halls 95 97 In the workparties/workshops 84 91 ATMOSPHERE RATING 91 96 Relationship with Prisoners Year '94 '91 Prisoners in the prison generally 99 98 RELATIONSHIP WITH PRISONERS RATING 99 98 Relationship with Specialists Year '94 '91 Social work staff 89 84 Psychologists 93 83 Nursing officers 99 83 Doctors 95 92 Chaplins 97 88 RELATIONSHIPS WITH SPECIALISTS RATING 99 98 MORALE RATING 33 72