§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the report of the investigations into an incident at Peterhead prison on 17 October when 15 prison officers were injured.
§ Mr. AncramJust after 2 pm on Sunday 16 October, during recreation, two prisoners on the ground flat of A hall in Peterhead prison started to fight. When staff attempted to separate the fighting prisoners, seven other prisoners in the vicinity became involved in an unprovoked attack on the prison staff. As staff reinforcements arrived, a group of the prisoners involved 399W ran upstairs to the top flat of the hall and began damaging the fittings and furnishings. As staff approached, they broke through a connecting door to D hall, which is in course of extensive refurbishing and is empty, and began to destroy furnishings and fittings there. Shortly afterwards, staff dressed in protective clothing entered D hall when the rioting prisoners ceased causing damage and offered no resistance to being taken to separate cell areas.
Eleven members of staff — not 15 as originally reported—received injuries, three having to go off duty. Two members of staff required stiches in face or head wounds and the others received a range of cuts and bruises caused by kicks, head butts and punches.
A total of seven prisoners were involved in the disturbance. Each one was examined initially by nursing staff and then by medical staff and no injuries of any significance were noted or complained of, other than a complaint by one prisoner of neck and wrist pains. He required no immediate treatment but was treated with analgesics and fitted with a cervical collar on the following day.
The governor's assessment of the incident was that it was spontaneous rather than premeditated. Three of the prisoners involved were subsequently temporarily transferred to the Inverness unit in the interests of maintaining good order and discipline in Peterhead.
The governor reported details of the incident to the police who are now considering whether any formal charges should be made.
§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will carry out an investigation into the allegations of brutality by prison officers upon inmates at Peterhead prison that have occurred recently; and if he will publish the result of this investigation in the Official Report.
§ Mr. AncramThe allegations take the form of drawings, said to be made by an inmate, depicting treatment given to another prisoner while in a punishment cell. No specific complaints against any member of staff at Peterhead have been made by the prisoner named in the article. There are well established avenues for complaints by or on behalf of prisoners about prison treatment. All specific complaints are fully investigated.
I wish to state, however, that the drawings reproduced in the newspaper article bear no relationship to the treatment given to any prisoner in any penal institution in Scotland. No prisoner is ever manacled to bars in the way depicted and no prisoner is ever given any medical treatment except on the specific directions of a doctor. Artificial restraints are very seldom used and only then with the specific agreement, and under the strict supervision of, the medical officer, and there are tight controls on the length of time such restraints may continue. A prison officer may use a baton only as a last resort and then only in self-defence: any other use would involve disciplinary proceedings against an officer. Any use of force against a prisoner must be followed by examination by a medical officer who is required to report any injuries to the governor. Any officer who uses force or witnesses the use of force must report full details to the governor immediately.
If any of these or other rules of behaviour have been breached and specific complaints are made about them 400W through the well established avenues for such complaints, they will be most fully investigated. There is, however, no present basis for any such investigation.