The Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2006

Compulsory testing for alcoholic liquor

108.—(1) This rule applies where an officer, acting under the powers conferred by section 41C of the Act (testing of prisoners for alcohol), requires a prisoner to provide a sample for the purpose of ascertaining whether a prisoner has any alcoholic liquor in their body.

(2) In this rule “sample” means a sample of breath or any other description of sample specified in the authorisation by the Governor for the purposes of section 41C.

(3) When requiring a prisoner to provide a sample, an officer shall, so far as is reasonably practicable, inform the prisoner–

(a) of the requirement to provide a sample in accordance with section 41C of the Act; and

(b) that a refusal to provide a sample may lead to disciplinary proceedings being brought against the prisoner.

(4) An officer shall require a prisoner to provide a fresh sample, free from any adulteration.

(5) An officer requiring a sample shall make such arrangements and give the prisoner such instructions for its provision as may be reasonably necessary in order to prevent or detect its adulteration or falsification.

(6) A prisoner who is required to provide a sample may be kept apart from other prisoners for a period not exceeding 1 hour to enable arrangements to be made for provision of the sample.

(7) A prisoner who is unable to provide a sample of urine (if by virtue of an authorisation an officer is empowered to require such a sample) when required to do so may be kept apart from other prisoners until the required sample has been provided, save that a prisoner may not be kept apart under this paragraph for a period of more than 5 hours.

(8) A prisoner required to provide a sample of urine shall be afforded such degree of privacy for the purposes of providing the sample as may be compatible with the need to prevent or detect any adulteration or falsification of the sample; in particular a prisoner shall not be required to provide such a sample in the sight of a person of the opposite sex.