Police investigated nearly 70 allegations of sexual offences in Scottish prisons in past five years

Between 2010 and 2015, officers investigated: six alleged rapes; 45 sexual assaults and 14 reported cases of sexual harassment. All of the victims and accused individuals were prisoners.

The last alleged rape occurred in 2014, according to figures from the Scottish Prison Service obtained under freedom of information legislation.

Forty-two of the alleged attackers in the 45 sexual assault cases were men while 25 of the victims were women.

Three staff-on-prisoners sexual assaults were also alleged, with both victims being male, while nine prisoner-on-staff sexual assaults were alleged. Of these, seven female staff and two males complained they were victims.

There were also two allegations of sexual assaults against female visitors by prisoners, with both incidents occurring in 2011.

Of the 14 allegations of sexual harassment, 10 were female staff members and the remaining four were prisoners – three males and one female. All of the alleged harassers were prisoners.

A prison spokeswoman said complaints were taken seriously.