Deaths in custody at Polmont YOI could have been avoided, inquiry finds
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The deaths of two young people who took their own lives while in custody in a 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 Polmont YOI 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 last year, 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.
