Committee for the Prevention of Torture raises human rights concerns after visit to Scotland

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has raised serious human rights concerns in a report published on Thursday 2 July following a visit to Scotland in June 2025.

Europe's anti-torture body returned to Scotland and found conditions in its prisons and secure care settings that echo many warnings made repeatedly over more than a decade including by the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC).

The Committee carried out an unannounced visit to Scotland in June 2025 examining conditions across six prisons and five police custody settings. This was the Committee's third visit to Scotland in the last seven years.

The Scottish Human Rights Commission is considering the content of the report and will release a full statement in due course.