Top Scots lawyer condemns prison chiefs over suicides behind bars ahead of government meeting

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A leading lawyer representing the families of two young people who took their own lives in prison has called for urgent action to stop more people dying while incarcerated.Aamer Anwar was speaking ahead of a crisis meeting with the First Minister today about the findings of a Fatal Accident Inquiry into the deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay.The FAI found multiple failures from both prison service staff and healthcare employees.

Justice secretary Angela Constance is expected to give a statement to Parliament on the scandal. Here he writes for the Sunday Mail and condemns the failures which led to the deaths of Katie, 21, and William, 16, in 2018.THE FATAL Accident Inquiry (FAI) into Katie Allan and William Lindsay’s deaths is the most extensive and robust finding in over half a century.The Scottish Prison Service (SPS), NHS Forth Valley, first ministers and justice ministers should all hang their heads in shame.Katie and William’s families don’t want empty condolences.

For more than six years officals denied the truth, gaslighted families and some of them should be facing criminal prosecution but while Crown immunity remains you are secure in your lack of accountability.It’s time this license to kill was changed for all prisons in the UK.While an FAI can’t apportion blame it’s clear from the findings that had the SPS done its job Katie and William may have been alive today.Sheriff Collins said it would not have required ‘ingenuity or modification’ to remove ligature points in the cells from which over 90% of suicides happen in prisons.Case conferences for vulnerable prisoners are supposed to prevent suicides but are a farce.