An inmate spent 16 hours away from his cell for a court appearance in Dumfries which lasted just four minutes.
It’s one of a number of examples of “failures” in prisoner transport across Scotland highlighted in a new report.
Some cases have even led to prisoners missing hospital appointments and funerals.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMPIS) claims in the Planned Failure report that GEOAmey, which is responsible for prisoner transport, has been cancelling transportation at short notice and sometimes on a daily basis.
Interim chief inspector of prisons for Scotland, Stephen Sandham, said: “This has impacted on the health, wellbeing and family relationships of prisoners as well as the justice system.
“Behind every prisoner transport journey is a human story and it is these stories that prompted us to shine a light on these issues.
“This report describes how failures in delivering prisoner transport have had a deep impact on people and services that is unacceptable.”
One example highlighted was in the spring, where a young person left the young offenders’ institute in Polmont near Falkirk just after 10am.
They arrived in Dumfries just before noon and – aside from a four minute court appearance – remained in the court’s custody unit until just before 11pm, when the return journey.
There was a pause while the vehicle and crew were changed, with the van then going to Stirling before arriving back at Polmont just after 2am – 16 hours after it had originally left.
The report states: “That cannot be considered either efficient or humane in a 21st century Scotland where virtual court technology provides alternative options.”
Other issues include prisoners missing visits to see terminally ill loved ones, and the failures have also led to NHS resources being wasted, with cancelled hospital appointments and the redeployment of officers onto escort duties.
The report found performance “has markedly improved” over 2024 but made 25 recommendations to further improve Scottish prisons.
Key recommendations include improving giving priority to non-court events for prisoners, offering better pay to maintain a stable workforce and improving governance in prisons.
Further recommendations include calling for digitalisation and a more modern approach to the transport system.
An SPS spokesperson said: “We welcome the publication of this thematic review, and its recognition of the progress made, throughout this year, in delivering a prisoner transport service which better meets the needs of those in our care, their families, our partners, and Scotland as a whole.
“While the recalibration of our contract with GEOAmey has led to improved staffing and performance we are not complacent and will continue to monitor the contract closely.
“We will carefully consider all the findings and recommendations made by HMIPS and respond in full.”
A GEOAmey spokesperson said: “It is important to note that this report focuses on historical issues related to the very challenging post-Covid period between 2022 and 2023, during which our people faced multiple complex issues, all occurring simultaneously: staff shortages; heightened demands of the court recovery programme to deal with the Covid backlog; compounded by the unpredictable demands of partners through an uncapped volume-led contract.
“The contract was recalibrated in December 2023 to include additional funding to be passed directly to our officers to make our package more competitive and since then, we have seen a rise in officer numbers and a marked improvement in performance, and we note that this has been recognised in this latest report.
“However, we take responsibility for our own failings whilst trying to service this contract through the post-Covid period which was a challenge for many organisations.
“GEOAmey delivers services that focus on people, and as stated by us when we appeared before the Public Audit Committee earlier this year, we fully recognise and accept there is a human story behind every failure.
“We again offer our sincere apologies to anyone impacted by the historic challenges we have faced.”