The Scottish Government has made "little or no progress" in addressing human rights concerns in the nation's prisons over the past 10 years a new report has found.

The Scottish Human Rights Commission and UK National Preventive Mechanism jointly report on prisons and forensic mental health settings in Scotland, identifying 10 areas of concern including mental health, segregation and deaths in custody.

Its latest report criticised the "glacial pace of change" in dealing with overcrowding, suicides and mental health problems.

The SHRC found that 83% of recommendations by human rights bodies have yet to be implemented in Scotland, with little or no meaningful progress over the last decade.

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It pointed to a "widespread use of segregation or solitary confinement and a failure to meet the minimum requirement of two hours of human contact per day", inadequate provision of mental healthcare, specialised high secure psychiatric unit for women prisoners in Scotland meaning women receiving either no care or being taken to England, gaps in the system for investigations of deaths in prisons and no independent system for investigating deaths of people detained in mental health settings.

At least 346 people have died in Scottish prisons in the past decade, with suicide and drugs deaths on the rise.

(Image: Serco)

Of 29 recommendations made by human rights groups since 2014 there had been "no meaningful progress" on 24, significant progress on just four and in no cases could the issue be considered to have been addressed.

The report states: "Only one matter has been fully resolved, which is the removal of the so-called 'dog boxes' used as holding cells in the reception area of HMP Barlinnie. Whilst this is welcome, we note that recommendation had been outstanding since 1994 and was finally addressed in 2023."

Shelley Gray of the SHRC said: "The Commission is concerned about the wide range of human rights issues that continue to exist for people in Scotland’s detention system. This is despite human rights recommendations being made repeatedly over a long period of time.

“Our research exposes inadequate provision of mental healthcare for people in prisons and an overuse of segregation for prisoners and gaps in the system for investigation of deaths in detention.

“As Scotland moves to bring into law additional human rights in a Human Rights Bill, it is important to consider the state of progress on rights long protected in law.

“Absolute rights are the most fundamental of human rights and there is no excuse for allowing these breaches or failing to act when these rights are at risk.

“The level of inaction and delay is no longer acceptable, and we want to see these important human rights concerns addressed by the Scottish Government with the urgency they deserve.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "These are complex and wide ranging issues and we are taking action, including bringing forward measures to improve the use of restraint on children in detention, implementing the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Response to Deaths in Prison Custody and work to improve female mental health care."

A Scottish Prisons Service spokesperson said: "The first stage of our review of the Talk to Me, suicide prevention strategy has been completed, and we have introduced further measures to keep people safe, including dedicated phonelines, which families can call to raise a concern about a loved one in custody."