The number of complaints lodged by inmates at Perth Prison has been revealed with a host of issues causing concern.
Figures obtained through the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act show that the total complaints submitted to the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) by prisoners at the Edinburgh Road building looks set to remain on course with 358 lodged from April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016 and 198 submitted for the period covering April 1 to November 11 last year.
The highest number of complaints raised by inmates in Perth related to health, welfare and religion issues, with a total of 82 concerns raised in the April 1, 2015, to March 3, 2016, timescale. And the lags had submitted 39 such concerns in the April 1 to November 11, 2016 period.
This was followed by complaints regarding security, control and progression matters, with 70 such concerns lodged between April 1, 2015 and March 3, 2016, and 49 in the following period.
Perth Prison inmates also lodged 43 complaints about privileges and prisoners’ property in the first timescale, with 23 grievances registered for the April 1 to November 11 period last year.
Open prisons, which include Castle Huntly, had the least number of complaints, with their main focus being leave from prison — 27 such complaints were registered in the period from April 1, 2015, to March 3 last year. A total of 13 complaints on this issue were submitted in the subsequent period from April 1 to November 11 last year.
Inmates at open prisons also lodged nine complaints in the first period about work, education, earnings and recreation but the April 1 to November 2016 period had seen only two similar concerns raised.
Compared to other Scottish prisons, HMP Perth fared quite well regarding the overall number of complaints lodged to SPS. Edinburgh Prison saw 174 complaints submitted by its inmates in the April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016, period regarding health, welfare and religion, with a slight fall in the following timescale to 163.
HMP Addiewell, in west Lothian, also experienced a high number of such complaints, with 154 lodged in the first period compared to 111 in the prevailing dates in 2016. Addiewell prisoners also were angered at security, control and progression issues, passing 263 such complaints for the April 1, 2015 to March 3, 2016 period and 141 for the April 1 to November 11, 2016 dates.
