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Decision report 201103381

  • Case ref:
    201103381
  • Date:
    May 2012
  • Body:
    Scottish Prison Service
  • Sector:
    Prisons
  • Outcome:
    Not upheld, no recommendations
  • Subject:
    earnings

Summary
Mr C, who is a prisoner, complained that there was a lack of employment opportunities in prison. As a result, he said he was only receiving a basic cell wage despite being willing to work.

The prison explained that due to external market conditions, they have encountered difficulties retaining and bringing in new contracts. As a result, there are not enough work spaces to accommodate the prisoner population.

Our investigation found that the prison rules require the governor to provide purposeful activity to prisoners whenever it is reasonably practical to do so. Work is one such purposeful activity and, in this instance, we were satisfied that it was not reasonable to expect work to be provided for every prisoner. We noted that other types of purposeful activity were available to Mr C, some of which may attract payment to supplement his income. In the circumstances we did not uphold the complaint.

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Updated: March 13, 2018