Prisoners have to use pots or buckets for toilets

In a 100-page ruling, Lord Bonomy awarded �2,400 to a prisoner who was held at Barlinnie Jail in Glasgow.

The inmate claimed that the practice, where prisoners use buckets in their cells, breached his human rights.

The Scottish Executive said that money should be spent on modernising prisons, not compensating prisoners.

Robert Napier, a remand prisoner at the time, raised a legal challenge in 2001 under the European Convention on Human Rights, in which he sought �5,000.

Eczema condition

He had been arrested after failing to appear at the High Court on robbery, assault and abduction charges.

Napier said he found the conditions in the jail's C hall depressing and disgusting and they had resulted in a "diminishment of his human dignity".

Being forced to slop out had resulted in his eczema being aggravated.

There have been frequent calls for the practice to end

In his judgement, Lord Bonomy agreed with Napier, who is nearing the end of his sentence for abduction and is understood currently to be in HMP Noranside, Forfar.

He found that slopping out violated articles three and eight of the convention and the common law "duty of care."

Napier is nearing the end of a sentence for abduction and is understood currently to be in HMP Noranside, Forfar.

On the violation of article three, the judge said: "I am entirely satisfied that the petitioner was exposed to conditions of detention which taken together, were such as to damage his human rights, his human dignity and to arise in him feelings of anxiety, anguish, inferiority and humiliation."

Precedent prospect

Twelve hundred male prisoners are forced to slop out in five prisons - parts of Barlinnie, Polmont, Perth and Edinburgh and the whole of Peterhead - and the Napier judgement could set a precedent which leads to similar claims.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is currently phasing out the practice.

A spokeswoman said that a few years ago, 30% of prisoners were slopping out and conditions had improved since Mr Napier's experience in 2001.

She said: "We are going to consider the findings of the report but generally it is a priority to eradicate slopping out as soon as we possibly can."

In October last year, the chief inspector of prisoners, Andrew McLellan, said slopping out at Barlinnine had to end.

At the time, the governor said only 20% of inmates were slopping out but even that figure was unacceptable.

'Lack of investment'

The Scottish National Party described the judgement as "inevitable" and accused the executive of not doing enough to end the practice.

Justice spokeswoman Nicola Sturgeon said: "This case was only ever going to go one way and now the executive face hundreds of claims for compensation from other prisoners.

"Because of a failure to invest in prison conditions, they now face having to make compensation payments to convicted prisoners.

"No doubt the executive will appeal against this judgement to try to delay the consequences of their own inaction."

Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan called for an immediate end to slopping out.

Mr Sheridan, who has served time in jail for refusing to pay the poll tax, said he had experienced the "utter humiliation" of the practice.