Student who killed herself in prison ‘murdered by justice system’, brother claims
The brother of a university student who took her own life in prison has said the justice system “murdered” her after an inquiry found her death “might have been avoided”.
Katie Allan was 21 when she was found dead in her cell at Polmont Young Offenders Institution in June 2018, three months into a 16-month sentence for dangerous and drink driving.
Her allocated prison officer told a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) that the Glasgow University student was “not built for prison”, while her mother said that her mental health “significantly deteriorated” while she was in custody.
She was taunted and threatened by other inmates and prison staff were unaware of her history of self-harming.
Her brother Scott, now the same age as his sister when she died, told BBC Scotland she was vulnerable, abandoned and “destroyed” by a system meant to be keeping her safe.
He said “they blatantly murdered her” after she was jailed for injuring teenager Michael Keenan while drink driving. Katie was imprisoned despite apologising and Michael’s family saying that they did not want her to be given a custodial sentence.
Mr Allan said: “She made a mistake and she paid for it with her life.” He hit out as the FAI report was published into her death by suicide and that of a second Polmont inmate, William Brown, 16, also known as William Lindsay.
William, who had been in care repeatedly, was found dead in his cell just over four months after Katie. He had walked into a police station with a knife and had been in Polmont for three days as there was no space in a children’s secure unit.
Sheriff Simon G Collins described a “catalogue of individual and collective failures by prison and healthcare staff” at the facility.
He highlighted flaws in the Talk To Me (TTM) suicide prevention strategy, which subjects at-risk prisoners to increased observation and checks.
He said Katie 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.
Among the incidents that he said should have been red flags for prison staff were Katie being bullied by other prisoners and distress caused by hair loss resulting from alopecia.
He also highlighted her distress at being strip searched by prison staff, and the failure of her appeal against her conviction.
Her weight dropped from 65kg to 58kg during her 12 weeks at the facility, something Sheriff Collins said should have been a “cause for concern” by staff.
The FAI report found William 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 put back on TTM when “further information” about his level of risk was provided to prison staff by a social worker later that day.
Mr Allan accused the authorities of having “abandoned” Katie, saying: “They tortured her. They defiled her.
“They destroyed someone and then, when all was said and done, let her have the mercy of death. They didn’t just kill her, they destroyed her.”
“I was slowly watching someone I treasure lose themselves, slowly become less and less of themselves,” said Mr Allan, who was 15 at the time of his sister’s death.
“Visit by visit she’d be a little less comfortable, she’d be a little less adjusted, she’d be more exposed to the environment in a way that was slowly killing her.”
After their final visit, he recalled how he and his mother had warned prison staff that Katie was “very vulnerable” and needed to be “on careful watch tonight”.
But the following day he was summoned out of his classroom at school and his mother informed him that she had died.
He said he was “instantaneously broken” at losing Katie, whom he said was his best friend.
“I was a child, and I could see the flaws of the prison system. How can they not understand the flaws when a child can see it?” he said.
“The lack of empathy. And it was more and more evident, not just from my sister, but the stories she told me about other prisoners when in Polmont. They’re absolutely abandoned to get on with it.”
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 Oct 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.
He found issues with the way risk assessment information was recorded on prison systems, which he said meant “there was no single, readily accessible source of all the information relevant to Katie’s risk of suicide”.
The sheriff said that the deaths could have been prevented if “reasonable precautions” had been taken around the safety of cells, including the carrying out of regular checks.
His report, of more than 400 pages, set out 25 recommendations “which might realistically prevent other deaths in similar circumstances”.
Sheriff Collins offered his condolences to the families of Kate and William and particularly her parents, Linda and Stuart, “at least one of whom attended every day of the inquiry, and whose dignity and courage were evident throughout”.
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: “Our thoughts remain with the families of Katie Allan and William Lindsay. We are committed to doing everything we can to support people and keep them safe during one of the most challenging and vulnerable periods of their life.
“We are grateful to Sheriff Collins for his recommendations, which we will now carefully consider before responding further.”
Angela Constance, the SNP Justice Secretary, said: “I am deeply sorry about their deaths and that their families have had to wait so long for the conclusion of this process.
“I fully appreciate that this has been an arduous process and will have compounded the trauma and distress of the families.
“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.”