Call for end to strip-searching of women in Scottish prisons (2024)

Women are still being routinely strip-searched in prison despite promises by Scottish ministers five years ago to reduce the practice, BBC News has found.

Wendy Sinclair-Gieben, the head of the prisons watchdog, has written to the justice secretary demanding this “traumatic” practice stop immediately for all prisoners.

The Scottish Prison Service said it had installed scanners in many prisons and only conducted body searches where necessary to keep people safe.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said the prison service aimed for a trauma-informed approach but she shared the inspector’s concerns about the continued routine body searches of women.

Body searches are used in prisons to check for drugs, weapons and other contraband.

Prison officers are allowed to conduct a search which involves the remove an inmate's clothing and making a visual examination of the external parts of their body.

They can also make a visual examination of the prisoner's open mouth but no equipment or force may be used.

However, following a review of two deaths in Polmont Young Offenders Institute in 2018, ministers said the strip-searching of female prisoners and young people - without evidence - should be reduced.

They said it should be replaced with technology including scanners and metal detectors.

Linda Allan, whose daughter Katie who took her own life in Polmont, said repeated strip-searching was a major factor in her death.

Ms Sinclair-Gieben, the chief inspector of prisons in Scotland, said strip-searches were “re-traumatising” for prisoners – especially those who have suffered abuse in their past.

She said that contraband could be found more effectively with body scanners.

The chief inspector, who revealed to the BBC she will retire this summer, said she wanted the ending of routine strip-searching of prisoners to be her legacy.

In her letter to the justice secretary, she said: “I accept there can be a legitimate role for body searching when it is based on robust evidence or reasonable ground for suspicion, but I do not regard it as justifiable when it is based purely on routine random searching of a set percentage of prisoners.”

Ms Sinclair-Gieben called for the practice to end for young people in Polmont as far back as 2018 and in HMP Edinburgh in 2019.

She said she “had been surprised and disappointed” to find women continued to be subject to random searches.

Earlier this year she also found routine strip-searching being used in the new community custody units for women.

Dawn, who was automatically strip-searched while in prison on remand four years ago, told the BBC it made her feel "absolutely humiliated".

She said she was caught in a cycle of addiction, shoplifting and poor mental health and being strip-searched made her feel even more isolated.

"I'd lost all self-respect - any little bit that I had left, I felt it had been taken away," she said.

"I felt I was looked at. I feel I was looked down at. It was very humiliating and embarrassing."

Dawn, whose name we have changed to protect her identity, said being told to remove your clothes for a search is even more upsetting for those who have suffered sexual abuse.

Since she was in prison, Dawn has gone through rehab and now volunteers at the charity Sisco to help others with addiction in jail.

The issue of strip-searching has long been highlighted as a problem across the UK.

In England in 2007 the suicides of six prisoners at HMP Styal highlighted the practice of routinely strip-searching female prisoners as a contributing factor in their deaths.

Technology - including scanners and metal detectors - was meant to replace routine strip searches but the practice continues.

Ms Sinclair Gieben said: “It's not only degrading, it's not only re-traumatising, but it's also resource intensive and it's not pleasant for the staff to have to do it either.

"So why do we carry on with an anachronistic, outdated method that does not have a proven effectiveness?”

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “The rights and wellbeing of those in our care, and the safety and security of our establishments, are key priorities.

“We have installed body scanner machines in 11 establishments and only conduct body searches where necessary to keep people safe.”

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “I am committed to ensuring that the human rights of the people in our prisons are respected, protected, and fulfilled.

“While there can be a legitimate role for body searching when it is based on robust intelligence or reasonable grounds for suspicion, I share the chief inspector’s concern that body searching of women in custody has been carried out on a more routine basis.

“The Scottish Prison Service is committed to becoming a more trauma-informed organisation and always look to utilise available technology which can be used to help create safe and secure environments for those who live, work, and visit our establishments, where this is viable.”