Legalised police cells 'bleak'

Nine Scottish police stations have legalised cells

Legalised police cells are bleak places and prisoners do not always have access to information, according to the chief inspector of prisons.

Dr Andrew McLellan's report highlighted concerns about lack of basic furniture, outdoor exercise and variable access to information about rules or complaints.

Legalised police cells are based in nine police stations which are not near prisons.

Prisoners held there can be detained for up to 30 days.

Dr McLellan also said toilets in cells had no privacy screens and added that copies of the prison rules and other information notices were not always available, including those on how to access the relevant visiting committee or how to make a complaint.

The conditions are very bleak. Prisoners do not even have a chair on which they can sit and eat a meal. Dr Andrew McLellan

Dr McLellan added that conditions for prisoners held in this way were likely to be similar to those detained in short-term police custody.

He continued: "The conditions are very bleak. Prisoners do not even have a chair on which they can sit and eat a meal. Toilets in cells are also unscreened. Boredom is a real problem.

"A lack of available information means that prisoners may not know how to access the visiting committee or make a formal complaint.

"Although responsibility for supervising these prisoners remains a matter for the police, the SPS (Scottish Prison Service) also has a responsibility and as far as can be achieved within the constraints of police cells, prisoners being held should have access to conditions similar to those in a prison."

There are nine police stations in Scotland where police cells have been legalised. In them prisoners - as opposed to those taken into police custody - can be detained for up to 30 days.

They are in Lerwick, Kirkwall, Thurso, Stornoway, Lochmaddy, Oban, Campbeltown, Dunoon and Hawick.