Families of Polmont custody death youths vow to sue prison service for answers

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The families of two young people who took their own lives in custody are to sue the Scottish Prison Service after a damning ruling on their deaths.Katie Allan, 21, and William Lindsay, 16, died in separate incidents at Polmont Young Offenders Institution just months apart in 2018.The fatalities sparked a six-year fight for justice backed by a series of Sunday Mail reports exposing systemic failings and alleged cover ups at the jail.That campaign was vindicated on Friday when a scathing Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) found a litany of shortcomings on the part of both the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and healthcare staff.And we can reveal William’s brother John Reilly and Katie’s parents Stuart and Linda Allan will now take civil action against the SPS as they believe officials are hiding more information behind a cloak of criminal immunity which protects prisons in UK law.That’s despite the Crown Office admitting there was credible evidence to pursue a criminal prosecution.Linda said: “There were several incidents for Katie and William that we listened to during the inquiry and there were inconsistencies.“The night before Katie took her own life she was being bullied.“Her personal officer said it was a minor skirmish, another officer on duty said it was the worst violence she had seen in 10 years.

Somebody is lying there. The civil action will help us to uncover more of the truth in that.”John added: “Six years is a lifetime for some people, and so much can change.

For me it’s been stagnant. Life has not moved on for me. For so long I think the prison service hoped that we would just want to go on with our lives and let it go.“I’m never going to let them get away with it, no matter how long they want to drag it out.