Mental health review after Polmont suicides
Expert will look at safety net for youngsters
AN EXPERT is to review mental health support for young people in custody after two inmates at Polmont young offenders institution committed suicide last year.
Justice secretary Humza Yousaf said consultant psychiatrist Dr Helen Smith will focus on the experiences of staff, young people and their families.
He added: “Any death by suicide is tragic and the impact on family and friends is unimaginable for most of us.
“We have made both suicide prevention and reforming young people’s mental health key priorities, with a significant focus on early intervention.”
Katie Allan, 21, took her own life at Polmont last June. Four months later, William Lindsay, 16, killed himself within 48 hours of being sent there on remand.
Katie’s parents Stuart and Linda met Yousaf for talks in November and urged him to halt the “spiralling epidemic” of suicides in Scotland’s prisons.
Their daughter had been detained for 16 months after admitting injuring a teenage pedestrian while drink-driving. She quickly started to self-harm and stress made her hair fall out.
Her parents accepted she had broken the law but claimed she had endured horrific experiences. They called for a review of mental health services.
Lawyer Aamer Anwar, working with the parents, welcomed the new appointment but warned that “observation policies” in jails are not properly covered by the review.
He said inmates were reluctant to admit they were feeling suicidal because if they did, they would be “placed in a ‘suicide cell’, stripped, provided with anti-ligature bedding and clothing, have all their personal belongings removed and be given finger food”.
He added: “Prisoners treat such cells as ‘punishment cells’. We would hope members of the expert group will recognise this practice as inhumane and degrading.”
Dr Smith is a consultant forensic child and adolescent psychiatrist and an honorary senior clinical lecturer at Glasgow University.