The deaths of two young people at Polmont Young Offenders Institution in 2018 could have been avoided but for a “catalogue of failures” in the system, a sheriff has found. Katie Allan, 21, and William Brown, 16, also known as William Lindsay, took their own lives in separate incidents at the Scottish facility. Both inmates were vulnerable while at the Polmont facility near Falkirk, according to testimony at a fatal accident inquiry. In a damning assessment of the Scottish Prison Service and healthcare services, the sheriff also found reasonable precautions could have been taken to avoid their deaths.
Sheriff Simon Collins KC has made 25 recommendations, including for the prison service to make definite and practical steps to make cells safer. The sheriff criticised the failure for this to happen in the years since Allan and Brown’s deaths. Collins found that William’s death resulted from a catalogue of individual and collective failures by SPS and healthcare staff at Polmont. He said “almost all of those who interacted with him were at fault to some extent.”
Collins found that if the Glasgow University student’s cell had been made safe – which could have been done without significant cost – her death would not have happened. There was a safety issue with the cell that had long been known to the SPS. Allan was serving a 16-month sentence for dangerous and drink driving following a hit-and-run. Her brother Scott, 21, told BBC Scotland News he believed the justice system had killed her.
William had been arrested after walking into Saracen Street police station in Glasgow while carrying a knife. Sheriff Collins criticised the failure to make cells safer in the years since Allan and Brown’s deaths and said there should be an audit of cells and an improvement programme implemented. He made other recommendations, including the use of technology, such as heart rate monitors and respiratory monitors, and the provision of a dedicated 24-hour telephone line for families to report concerns they have relevant to suicide risk.
NHS Forth Valley apologised for the failures relating to healthcare services highlighted in the report. “We continue to work in partnership with the Scottish Prison Service to ensure everything possible is done to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people,” the board said. The determination also found that available evidence suggested that the rate of suicide by prisoners in Scotland may be one of the highest in Europe – and that it may be increasing – although the data is incomplete
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