'I’m just not made for prison': Jailed student Katie Allan's tragic last letter to parents before taking her own life

15 January 2024, 16:32 | Updated: 15 January 2024, 17:18

Struggling to sleep and suffering from alopecia, Katie expressed that she was finding prison life difficult to bear
Struggling to sleep and suffering from alopecia, Katie expressed that she was finding prison life difficult to bear. Picture: Alamy
Sukhmani Sethi

By Sukhmani Sethi

The final letter of a prison inmate who took her own life has revealed her heartbreaking last words "amid horrifying bullying in prison".

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Katie Allan, 21, was found dead in Polmont Young Offenders Institution in Scotland in 2018, after being jailed for dangerous driving while over the limit.

A note was discovered beside her lifeless body which revealed how Katie felt that she "couldn’t go on" after being bullied.

Katie said she feared for her safety after being threatened by other prisoners, for which she claimed to have received little to no support from prison officers.

In the tragic letter addressed to her parents, Linda and Stuart Allan, Katie describes how she was "not made for prison at all" and could no longer deal with all the hurtful things that were being said to her.

Struggling to sleep and suffering from alopecia, Katie expressed that she was finding prison life difficult to bear, writing in the letter that she was "fed up with this place and the people in it".

Mr and Mrs Allan have launched an attack on Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, through their solicitor, after asserting that systematic failures at the institution led to their daughter’s untimely death.

Read more: University student Katie Allan, 21, who killed herself in jail told by boyfriend he was 'dating other women'

Read more: University student Katie Allan 'petrified' of other inmates the day before she died, mother tells inquiry

21-year-old Katie Allan, was found dead in Polmont Young Offenders Institution in Scotland in 2018, after being jailed for dangerous driving while over the limit
21-year-old Katie Allan, was found dead in Polmont Young Offenders Institution in Scotland in 2018, after being jailed for dangerous driving while over the limit. Picture: Alamy

The couple have blasted Mr Yousaf for not taking action to ensure that authorities within the Scottish Prison Service was forced to face prosecution for deaths occurring on their watch.

Cruelly, Katie's parents were told the day after her death that if they wished to read her last letter, they would have to collect it from a police station.

Linda said: "Despite being unable to function and in total shock, we had been told that if we wanted to see Katie’s suicide note, we had to visit Falkirk CID, so we did".

She added: "She was frightened of coming home, so deep was her remorse. We had been so desperate to read this letter, hoping against hope that it would give us answers. It did."

The letter, which was published in the Mail on Sunday, read: "Dear Mum and Dad I’m really sorry it had to end this way but I just couldn’t go on.

In the tragic letter addressed to her parents, Linda and Stuart Allan, Katie describes how she was “not made for prison at all” and could no longer deal with all the hurtful things that were being said
In the tragic letter addressed to her parents, Linda and Stuart Allan, Katie describes how she was “not made for prison at all” and could no longer deal with all the hurtful things that were being said. Picture: Alamy

"I’m so sorry I failed you both as a daughter and Scott as a sister. I’m just not made for prison at all and could no longer deal with all the hurtful things that were getting said.

"I loved you both with all my heart but to be honest the thing that scared me the most was coming home. I've made some seriously poor choices in my life."

In another letter that Katie write weeks before she took her life, she revealed that she spoke to prison authorities to discuss the "best option for my safety" in a bid to stay positive about her situation.

She added: “Please believe me I will be okay just hate this place and a few of the people in it really aren’t making things any easier, don’t see why people need to be so cruel Mum.

“Anyway I’ll find out as soon as I can where xxxxx is going to, and I’ll let you know. Can’t believe xxxx behaviour. Really missing home mum and my 'normal' life. Fed up with this place and the people in it."

Katie, from Clarkston, Renfrewshire, was a student at Glasgow University, studying geography, before a fatal chain of events which started when she was driving over the limit, that resulted in the injuries sustained by a 15-year-old boy.

She was jailed on March 5, 2018, for 16 months for dangerous driving while over the limit.

Her mother Linda has vowed to fight for "radical change" so that "no other young person in Scotland today experiences such a catalogue of catastrophic events at the hands of the Scottish justice system."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Tranyelle Harshman, 32, of Wyoming, left her fourth daughter fighting for her life after going on a rampage at their home on Monday.

Mum-of-four shoots dead three young daughters before turning gun on herself in horror rampage

Speeding car approaching warning to slow down, on UK road

Shock figures reveal 'incredibly dangerous' speeding across UK - as one driver caught doing 122mph on 30mph road

Emergency services work near the scene of an explosion at a bar where a grenade was thrown, in Grenoble, on February 12, 2025.

At least 12 injured after man wielding assault rifle throws grenade into bar

Dorothy Chiles

Great-grandmother, 87, pictured for first time after deadly train station attack, as woman in her 20s arrested

President Donald Trump speaks on Wednesday night

Trump makes plans to meet Putin and end Ukraine war as he says 'the US wants its money back'

Exclusive
Katie Amess has spoken out about the need for an inquiry into her father's murder by an Islamist terrorist

Daughter of Sir David Amess, MP murdered by Islamist terrorist, ‘made to sign NDA’ on report into father’s death

Exclusive
Angela Rayner reveals she took advice from NHS trauma specialists ahead of Grenfell demolition meeting

Angela Rayner reveals she took advice from NHS trauma specialists ahead of Grenfell demolition meeting

Italian F1 Grand Prix - Previews

Nightclub bouncer behind £12m plot to reveal Formula One star Michael Schumacher's health secrets jailed

Josef Fritzl

Incest monster Josef Fritzl could walk free from prison next year - and expects 'cheering crowds' to greet him

Ofsted's Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver supports an extension to term times

'Time to think about school holidays': Ofsted's Chief Inspector supports extending term times

Exclusive
Angela Rayner insisted that British support for Ukraine was 'unwavering'

Rayner insists UK support for Ukraine 'unwavering' despite Trump's plan for 'immediate' peace talks with Putin

Prince William, President of BAFTA, operates a film camera as he visits the London Screen Academy in London, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool)

William tries his hand at being a cameraman on visit to London film academy

President Donald J. Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin during the G20 Japan Summit Friday, June 28, 2019, in Osaka, Japan.

Trump and Putin 'to meet in Saudi Arabia' and 'start negotiations immediately' to end war in Ukraine

Street scene in Peckham, London, with red bus

Bus driver, 76, found guilty of killing passenger who was run over while attempting to board vehicle

Norward Road, Lambeth, the proposed LTN.

Council staff given 'wellbeing day' after attending 'stormy' neighbourhood meeting

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, shakes hands with Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey prior to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb.

Ukraine's NATO membership plans 'unrealistic' says US - as defence secretary claims US troops won't be peacekeepers