FAI Katie Allan and William Lindsay
Polmont deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay 'could have been avoided', damning inquiry report finds
The deaths of two young people who took their own lives while in custody in a Scottish young offenders institution “might have been avoided”, an inquiry has found.
Katie Allan, 21, and William Brown, 16, also known as William Lindsay, took their own lives within months of each other while held at Young Offenders Institution (YOI) Polmont in 2018.
Ms Allan, a student at Glasgow University, was found dead in her cell on June 4 while serving a 16-month sentence for drink-driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Mr Brown, who had been in care repeatedly, was found dead in his cell on October 7, three days after being admitted as there was no space in a children’s secure unit, having walked into a police station with a knife.
A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into their deaths was held at Falkirk Sheriff Court, led by Sheriff SG Collins KC.
In his determination, which was published on Friday, Sheriff Collins described a “catalogue of individual and collective failures by prison and healthcare staff” at the facility.
One of the main issues, he said, was the effectiveness of the Talk To Me (TTM) suicide prevention strategy, through which at-risk prisoners are subjected to increased observation and checks.
He said Ms Allan had not been considered a “risk” when she was admitted to Polmont and so was not placed on TTM.
However, he said that during her incarceration there was a “systemic failure” by prison staff to complete “concern forms” that could have triggered the TTM process, pointing to a number of incidents recorded by prison staff that should have been red flags.
These included, he said, the fact Ms Allan was being bullied by other prisoners, distress caused by hair loss resulting from alopecia, her distress at being body (strip) searched by prison staff, and the failure of her appeal against her conviction.
Her weight also dropped from 65kg to 58kg during her 12 weeks at the facility, which Sheriff Collins said should have been a “cause for concern” by staff.
Mr Brown, on the other hand, was placed on TTM on admission to Polmont only to be removed from it the next morning, despite presenting as a “very high risk” individual.
He was also not placed back on TTM when “further information” about his level of risk was provided to prison staff by a social worker later that day.
Sheriff Collins said: “Had Katie been put on TTM on the night of June 3-4, 2018, and had William not been removed from it prior to the night of October 6-7, 2018, there was a realistic possibility that their deaths might have been avoided.”
The sheriff also described as “defective” the systems for sharing information between the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and other bodies, including courts and external agencies, about prisoner risk.
