The Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011

Provision of clothing to prisoners

33.—(1) The Governor must provide suitable clothing for every prisoner who—

(a) is not permitted to wear their own clothes under these Rules; or

(b) does not possess or have access to any or enough of their own clothes.

(2) Any clothing provided in terms of paragraph (1) must—

(a) so far as reasonably practicable, be issued by the Governor for use only by the prisoner concerned;

(b) where required to be worn by the prisoner on occasions when outwith the prison, not give any obvious indication that the prisoner is such a person;

(c) be fit for purpose and, having regard to the circumstances, be suitable for the health and safety of the prisoner; and

(d) be maintained in good repair in accordance with arrangements made by the Governor.

(3) The Governor must ensure that every prisoner has sufficient clothing (whether their own or provided by the Governor) to enable a prisoner—

(a) to have a clean change of socks and underwear everyday; and

(b) to have a clean change of other clothing as often as is necessary for the purposes of health and hygiene.

(4) If the Governor receives advice from a healthcare professional that any article of clothing belonging to, or provided to, a prisoner is unsanitary, the Governor—

(a) may require the prisoner to change out of the article, if applicable;

(b) must provide the prisoner with alternative clean clothing to change into; and

(c) must arrange for the decontamination or disinfection of the relevant article by such process as is necessary unless the article is too unsanitary to clean in which case the article may be disposed of appropriately.

(5) If it is impractical for the Governor to comply with paragraph (3) due to exceptional circumstances pertaining in the prison, or a temporary lack of facilities at the prison, then—

(a) subject to sub-paragraph (b) the Governor must seek to comply with paragraph (3) so far as reasonably practicable; and

(b) where the exceptional circumstances or temporary lack of facilities persist for more than 48 hours, the Scottish Ministers may by direction provide that paragraph (3) applies in relation to prisoners (or categories of prisoners) in that prison subject to such restrictions as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate but only for a period not exceeding one month.