These Rules amend the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011 (“the Prison Rules”) in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Rule 2(1) of the Prison Rules is amended to extend the definition of “for the duration of a coronavirus outbreak” to mean the time period starting with the commencement of the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Amendment Rules 2020 and continuing until 31 March 2022.

The following rules are all omitted as they are no longer considered necessary for the management of the Scottish prison system - rule 19A (assignment of supervision levels on review – coronavirus), rule 20A (maintaining or lowering a supervision level on review – coronavirus), rule 21A (assigning certain supervision levels on review – coronavirus), rule 43A (prisoners’ welfare – coronavirus), rule 52A (supplies of books, newspapers, etc. to prisoners – coronavirus), rule 81A (arrangements for work, education and counselling – coronavirus), rule 111A (reporting breaches of discipline – coronavirus), rule 116A (breaches of discipline committed in another prison or during transfer – coronavirus), rule 118A (disciplinary appeals – coronavirus), rule 120A (requests to speak to certain persons – coronavirus), rule 122A (complaints to the residential first line manager – coronavirus), rule 123A (referral of complaints to the Internal Complaints Committee – coronavirus), and rule 131A (healthcare assessment prior to transfer - coronavirus).

No business and regulatory impact assessment has been prepared for these Rules as no impact upon business, charities or voluntary bodies is foreseen.