Auto Amazon Links: No products found.
Previously unreleased CCTV footage obtained by the BBC offers a fresh perspective on the events preceding the death of Allan Marshall, a man who died after being restrained by prison officers. This new video challenges the official narrative given by authorities. Earlier this year, BBC News took legal action against Scottish ministers when they initially refused to release the footage of the moments leading up to the restraint incident. Marshall, aged 30, was on remand at HMP Edinburgh in 2015 for unpaid fines and breach of the peace. Prison officials had claimed that he had aggressively smashed up his cell and covered himself in excrement, but the new footage tells a different story.
The recordings show Marshall, from South Lanarkshire, calmly walking through the prison corridors for roughly four minutes, guided gently by three guards. Contrary to claims of erratic or aggressive behavior, the video reveals him walking topless and unshod, wearing only tracksuit trousers, without any apparent distress or signs of being smeared with excrement. The footage ends as he enters the shower room, where, about 20 minutes later, he was physically restrained face down by up to seventeen officers. Marshall later died four days after the incident. Prior footage of the restraint outside the shower room has been publicly available for years, but the newly released material depicting the preceding moments was only made public following a court ruling prompted by Marshall’s family.
During a fatal accident inquiry, prison officers testified that Marshall had acted aggressively and that they suspected he had taken a legal high. They said he was being moved to the segregation unit due to his conduct during the night and needed a shower following what they described as a “dirty protest.” However, the new video disputes these claims, showing a calm individual who follows instructions without resistance. Marshall’s aunt, Sharon MacFadyen, who has been campaigning for years on his behalf, stated the footage does not match the officers’ descriptions. She suggested that because Marshall had pressed his emergency buzzer multiple times, he might have irritated the staff and was perhaps taken to the shower room to be disciplined, a place lacking any cameras, raising suspicions about what truly transpired in that space.
Experts and family alike have raised serious questions in light of this new footage. Sarah Armstrong, a criminology professor at the University of Glasgow, expressed shock at how composed Marshall appeared. She said, “I don’t see anything in that video suggesting that use of force is required. There’s no sign that he was resisting.” She also pointed out that no evidence of excrement or behavior indicating distress is visible, questioning the rationale for moving him into a camera-free shower room and subsequently restraining him. The decision to grant lifetime immunity from prosecution to all the prison officers involved, aimed at encouraging their cooperation during the inquiry, was later acknowledged as a mistake by the Crown Office. Meanwhile, Marshall’s family has pursued legal action under human rights legislation, seeking justice for what they deem an unlawful death. The Scottish Prison Service formally admitted the death was unlawful ten years after the event and, along with Police Scotland and the Crown Office, issued a public apology to the family last year. Litigation concerning compensation is ongoing, with a decision expected soon
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found.