Officers' time goes down drain

Slopping out is standard practice in Barlinnie

The practice of "slopping out" is wasting 300 hours of staff time each day at Scotland's largest prison, according to an MSP.

The Scottish National Party's Dorothy-Grace Elder made the claim during a debate on the lack of sanitation in the cells at Barlinnie.

The vast majority of cells at Barlinnie Prison have no integral sanitation.

This means that prisoners must use chamber pots which they empty in an early morning ritual.

It is outrageous, quite apart from the real issue which is the utter human degradation

Dorothy-Grace Elder

Ms Elder told Thursday's debate in graphic detail what this means to staff and prisoners.

She calculates it wastes up to 300 staff hours a day as prison officers supervise what "an inhumane and degrading practice".

The Scottish Prisons Service had aimed to end the practice by 2005, but the target was pushed back after the Scottish Executive recouped £13m from the SPS's budget.

Prison officers say the continuation of slopping out is hitting the morale of staff, who feel they are trained to do a more useful job than being toilet attendants.

Reform 'mockery'

Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Ms Elder said: "Let me point out that the time wasted is up to 300 hours a day of prison officer time in Barlinnie on slopping out.

"The lowest it gets is about 240 hours a day.

Dorothy-Grace Elder: "Wastes staff time"

"That means that all their work on reform is made a mockery of.

"Officers who are trained to help are being used in particularly grim conditions as toilet attendants.

"It is outrageous, quite apart from the real issue which is the utter human degradation.

"Barlinnie takes prisoners for up to four years. HM inspector of prisons highlighted remand prisoners in particular because, obviously, they are not guilty until proved otherwise.

European convention

"Sixty percent of them get a non-custodial sentence or are even found not guilty in the long run.

"There are 75 toilets, approximately, for 800 men in Barlinnie, counting out the 200 in the one hall which has in-cell toilets.

"The other victims are the prison officers. The up to 600 staff in Barlinnie are equally imprisoned with this degradation."

It emerged in March that the continuation of the practice of "slopping out" could enable prisoners to challenge their detention under the European Convention on Human Rights.

A report from Clive Fairweather, the chief inspector of prisons, also highlighted complaints of cockroach infestation and a shortage of clean underwear.