National Preventive Mechanism Annual Report 2009–10 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland T he post of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland (HMCIPS) has existed since 1981 and was made statutory by virtue of section 7 of the Prison (Scotland) Act 1989. The 1989 Act requires HMCIPS to inspect prisons, including young offenders institutions, paying particular attention to the treatment of prisoners and conditions in prison. In addition, HMCIPS has a duty to inspect legalised police cells. In Scotland, legalised police cells are used to hold prisoners awaiting trial in their local area, rather than transfer them to distant prisons. Eight police stations have legalised cells and all are located in outlying areas. Prisoners are not held in legalised police cells for longer than 30 days. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 introduced a duty on HMCIPS to inspect prisoner escort arrangements. Prisoner escort arrangements include the conditions in which prisoners are transported from one place to another, as well as court custody facilities or any other place where prisoners are temporarily held outside a prison. HMCIPS publishes a report of every inspection as well as thematic inspections and an annual report of its activities. All are submitted to the Scottish Government, although HMCIPS operates independently from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Prison Service. The Chief Inspector is assisted by three inspection staff and a personal secretary. This core team is augmented by experts in education and social work, and any other experts as required. Methodology HMCIPS carries out regular announced and unannounced inspections. Inspections may either be full or follow-up. Full inspections typically last one week while follow-up inspections last one or two days. The purpose of a follow-up inspection is to monitor issues raised during previous inspections and to examine any significant changes. HMCIPS is moving away from three-year cyclical inspections of prisons and will instead carry out inspections as required. Inspection of legalised police cells currently takes place every three years. When inspecting a prison, HMCIPS also inspects the custody facilities of courts serving that prison and related prisoner escorting arrangements.39 HMCIPS is able to access any part of an establishment, view any relevant papers and speak to prisoners and staff privately and in confidence. HMCIPS has developed standards for use in inspection. Based in part on international human rights law, these standards provide a consistent and transparent framework for inspection. The standards are grouped into three key areas: • safety • decency, humanity and respect for legal rights • opportunities for self-improvement and access to services and activities. 39 A full inspection, focused solely on prisoner escorting, was carried out in 2006. 42