PRISONERS at Scotland’s largest jail are being locked in their cells for up to 23 hours a day without electricity or proper sanitation.

An inspection report published yesterday said inmates at Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow shared cramped cells and had to “slop out” three times a day in sinks where dishes and cutlery were washed.

Slopping out, where prisoners use a pot in their cell because there is no toilet, is banned in England but still exists at four of Scotland’s 16 prisons. At Barlinnie it is confined to A and Letham halls, which house up to 425 prisoners, many short-term inmates or remand prisoners awaiting trial or sentence.

Andrew McLellan, Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, said yesterday that slopping out had been repeatedly condemned and must be ended. He said that immediate steps should also be taken to end the situation where prisoners slopped out in areas used for washing dishes.

Mr McLellan acknowledged that efforts had been made to improve Barlinnie, which was condemned as a national disgrace in the last report, but said that the prison had not changed enough. “Some prisoners live in conditions of which any civilised country should be ashamed,” he said.

The Scottish Prison Service called the report “fair and balanced” and agreed that slopping out was undesirable.

Bill McKinlay, Barlinnie’s governor, said that only 20 per cent of prisoners were slopping out now compared with 75 per cent three years ago — but it was still not acceptable.

The Scottish Executive has pledged £110 million to work towards ending slopping out at the four jails where is still exists: Barlinnie, Peterhead, Edinburgh and Perth.

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