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Case ref:201200043
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Date:September 2012
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Body:Scottish Prison Service
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Sector:Prisons
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Outcome:Some upheld, action taken by body to remedy, no recommendations
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Subject:religious books, items and practices
Summary
Mr C complained that the prison unreasonably refused to permit him to have certain pagan worship materials in use. Our investigation found that the prison had consulted with their chaplaincy advisers and also the Scottish Pagan Federation. It was concluded that some of the content of the materials was not appropriate for a prison setting. As the governor of the prison has discretion over permitted items in the establishment, and as we considered that the request was appropriately considered, we did not uphold this part of the complaint.
Mr C also complained that he was not given the opportunity to discuss his complaint with a manager, as required under prison rules, and that the prison did not fully respond to all his concerns. We agreed that Mr C should have been offered the opportunity to discuss his complaint and also that the response to it might have been fuller. We, therefore, upheld this part of the complaint. We had no recommendations to make as we were satisfied that the Scottish Prison Service were taking steps to improve complaints handling.