'They act like God. They've got a freedom to kill', suicide victim's family slams prison service

17 January 2025, 14:57

Linda and Stuart Allan with lawyer Aamer Anwar.
Linda and Stuart Allan with lawyer Aamer Anwar. Picture: Alamy

By Gina Davidson

The deaths of two young people, just four months apart, at HMP Polmont were the result of a catalogue of failures by the Scottish Prison Service and healthcare staff, an inquiry has found.

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The Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the deaths of Katie Allan and William Brown, also known as Willim Lindsay, identified a series of safety failings and defects where staff failed to pass on vital information that could have prevented the pair's suicides while in custody.

Today the familes' lawyer Aamer Anwar said the young people had been "given a death sentence" when sent to the young offenders institute.

The families are now calling for the law to change so prisons can be prosecuted.

Ms Allan, a student at Glasgow University, was found dead on June 4 while serving a 16-month sentence for drink-driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

During her sentence she developed alopecia and was relentlessly bullied by other inmates. Despite a history of self harm, the court heard prison officers did not deem Katie a suicide risk.

Mr Brown, who had made repeated attempts on his life in 2017 which were detailed in reports provided on his admission to Polmont, was found dead in his cell on October 7 - three days after he was remanded due to a lack space in a children's secure unit.

In his determination of the FAI Sheriff SG Collins KC described a "catalogue of individual and collective failures by prison and healthcare staff" at the facility.

He found there were reasonable precautions by which both deaths might realistically have been avoided, and that systemic failures contributed to them.

Katie's mum Linda said her daughter had been "brutalised" in Polmont "so much so she lost all hope and saw only one solution."

On the findings of the FAI she said: "We did not know it was possible to feel such a range of emotions all at once, anger, relief, vindication, pain and ever present grief."

And in a comment directed to the government she said: "Please don't tell us every death in custody is a tragedy, because if it was you'd change it [the law]."

John Reilly, William's brother said: "Some will say the system is corrupt, I just call it the Scottish Prison system - you're never going to be bigger than them in their eyes. They act like God. They've got a freedom to kill. They've got a duty of care but where was that?

"William was a family kid, he loved all his family. In one of his last letters he said tell my little niece I love her, I don't want to leave her without an uncle."

Scotland has the highest rate of prison suicides in the whole UK - and the fourth highest in Europe. Despite a fatal accident inquiry for every death in state custody - and many of the recommendations being the same each time - the majority of inmates still die by the same means.

In his judgement Sheriff Collins issued 25 recommendations - which the families' solicitor Aamer Anwar believes will be "ignored" by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) unless it becomes mandatory to implement them.

SPS has apologised for the failures identified in the report and said it will carefully consider the recommendations.

At a press conference on Friday, Mr Anwar claimed the SPS, former prison governors, the NHS Forth Valley health board, the Scottish Government, and a succession of first ministers and justice ministers were "complicit in the deaths that continue to take place."

Mr Anwar said: "We do not have a death sentence in this country, but for Katie and William, that is what you served on them."

He claimed that over six years, public servants "denied the truth", "lied and conducted a whitewash" and "gaslighted the families".

He said some of those involved "should be facing criminal prosecution".

He also called for the Prime Minister to change the law on Crown immunity - which prevents the prosecution of prisons.

Mr Anwar said: "The Crown Office told us before the start of the FAI, there was more than sufficient evidence to prosecute SPS for the deaths of Katie and William under health and safety laws, but because SPS has Crown immunity, nothing could be done.

"It's time this licence to kill was changed by the UK Government. Our next stage is to take this to the Prime Minister and ask him to fulfil the promise made some 20 years ago by a Labour government to remove Crown immunity from UK prisons."

He praised the 419-page report as "the most extensive and robust findings in over half a century".

One of the main issues raised by Sheriff Collins was the effectiveness of the Talk To Me (TTM) suicide prevention strategy.

He added the deaths could have been prevented if "reasonable precautions" had been taken around the safety of cells, including carrying out regular checks to identify potential risks.

Mr Anwar said: "It is clear on the sheriff's findings that had SPS simply done its job, then Katie Allan and William Lindsay may have been alive today. The failures were systemic. They were catastrophic. They were incompetent.

"Individuals either ignored processes or simply conducted a cover-up. They failed to keep records. Their systems were archaic.

"Their failure to act was, as described by one prison officer, criminally negligent."

Campaigners have called for a national oversight mechanism to ensure FAI recommendations do not "disappear into the ether".

Mr Anwar said: "There was nothing inevitable about William and Katie taking their own lives - it was clear to anybody that cared to look that they were vulnerable and at risk.

"We do not have the death sentence in the UK, but for Katie and William that is exactly what their prison sentence was."

An SPS spokesperson said: "Our thoughts remain with the families of Katie Allan and William Lindsay and we would like to take this opportunity to offer our sincere condolences and apologies for the failures identified in this report.

"We are committed to doing everything we can to support people and keep them safe during the most challenging and vulnerable periods of their lives.

"We are grateful to Sheriff Collins for his recommendations, which we will now carefully consider before responding further."

Scotland's Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: "My deepest sympathies and condolences are with the families of Katie Allan and William Lindsay, who have lost a child and sibling.

"I am deeply sorry about their deaths and that their families have had to wait so long for the conclusion of this process."

She added: "Deaths from suicide in custody are as tragic as they are preventable, and the deaths of these two young people should not have happened whilst they were in the care of the state."

And on changing the law so prisons can be prosecuted she told LBC: "I will undertake engagement in good faith with the UK government, in full knowledge of the pain these familes have endured, for my part I accept my accountability."

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