Deaths in Custody Review
In November 2019, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Humza Yousef announced that he had asked HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland (HMCIPS), Wendy Sinclair-Gieben, in accordance with section 7(2)(d) of the Prisons (Scotland) Act 1989, to undertake an independent review into the responses to deaths in prison custody.
The Review was instructed to enable the identification of and to make recommendations for areas for improvement to ensure appropriate and transparent arrangements are in place in the immediate aftermath of deaths in custody within Scottish prisons, including deaths of prisoners whilst in NHS care.
It was later announced that Professor Nancy Loucks OBE, Chief Executive of Families Outside and Judith Robertson, Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission will join Wendy Sinclair Gieben as co-Chairs of the review.
Families Outside will provide external expertise to inform the views of support for families and the Commission will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the relevant human rights legal standards, at both the European and international levels. Both co-Chairs will also work across the other work streams that are part of the Review.
For full details of the activities to date and the involvement of families in the review, please click in the link below:
https://www.scottishhumanrights.com/projects-and-programmes/deaths-in-custody-review/