It started with a financial re-shuffle so slight it was barely discernable. Some £13m was diverted from the prison budget to tackle drug trafficking and domestic abuse instead of ending slopping-out in the 1990s.
It started with a financial re-shuffle so slight it was barely discernable. Some £13m was diverted from the prison budget to tackle drug trafficking and domestic abuse instead of ending slopping-out in the 1990s.
Despite successive international and domestic warnings that stated prison conditions across Scotland were inhumane, former Justice Minister Jim Wallace took some £13m away from prison development into other areas of the justice department in 1999, money which, later investigations proved, could have at least stemmed the tide of later litigation.
The financial implications of such complacency became apparent in 2004, when a single prisoner took them on in court and won.
Robert Napier was found to have been forced to suffer inhumane and degrading conditions, partly as a result of the fact he had to slop-out in Barlinnie. He was awarded £2450 for the effect the prison conditions had on his health. Hundreds of prisoners came forward as a result.
The Scottish Prison Service Estates Review in 2002 estimated that 1900 prisoners in Scotland still slopped out. Napier's 42 days in Barlinnie looked set to be the most expensive in legal history.
As the numbers seeking compensation swelled, the executive cut its losses, believing it was protected, in part at least, by the one-year time bar that restricted claims under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Forced to face the reality of the situation, a settlement was reached with 190 prisoners last year. It cost less than £500,000 in claims.
In October 2007, the Law Lords, the highest appeal court in the UK, tipped this plan on its head. It decided that the usual time limit of one year on human rights cases should not apply and raised the possibility that people could sue Scottish ministers for alleged human rights breaches that occurred at any time from 1999 onwards, when the ECHR was introduced under the Scotland Act.
Their ruling focused on four men kept in segregation in prison; Andrew Somerville and Ricardo Blanco, serving life for murder; armed robber Sammy Ralston; and David Henderson, a violent offender. It was seen as an important test case for inmates who suffered inhumane or degrading conditions since then.
The ECHR has a statutory one-year limit, but there is no time-bar for cases brought under the Scotland Act, and the Law Lords, in a 3-2 ruling, said the latter legislation should prevail. It puts Scotland into what appears to be a unique position in human rights law.
The four claimed their human rights were abused when they were forced to live in segregated conditions, without recourse to representation.
The appeal court in Edinburgh ruled in 2006 that the cases were time-barred. The Law Lords have now overturned that decision, meaning their case can go ahead.
Figures released yesterday show that 3737 cases have been settled at a total cost of over £11.2m in compensation payments and associated legal fees, and a further 1223 cases are being dealt with.
Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, sought an urgent meeting with Lord Chancellor Jack Straw in October, warning of "serious concerns" over the implications of the ruling.
Last June the Scottish Government again issued a plea to Westminster to block the human rights legal "loophole". Mr MacAskill later spoke of his "frustration and anger" at the lack of action from Westminster.
Yesterday officials revealed that the initial requests to amend the law were rejected in December but that after renewed calls from First Minister Alex Salmond, the position seems to have changed.
The First Minister and Lord Advocate went to London two weeks ago to meet Mr Straw and the Advocate General for Scotland.
Mr MacAskill made the point yesterday that £50m could pay for eight new primary schools or 500 new affordable housing units, or employ 1250 teachers or 1600 nurses for a year.
It is a lot more than the £13m the previous executive diverted, leaving the current Scottish Government to face this ever-increasing bill.
