Inmate died when a cry for help went wrong
Inquest hears Maidstone Prison has changed procedures
Maidstone Prison has revised the way it deals with prisoners considered at risk of self-harm or suicide after the death of an inmate.
Petrut Cristea, a Romanian national serving a seven-year sentence for causing grievous bodily harm, died in Maidstone Hospital on June 4 last year. He had been taken there a few days before after being discovered suspended in his cell on June 1.
The inquest jury, at the Shepway Centre, in Oxford Road, heard the 26-year-old had a long history of self-harming during his time at the prison since 2019. When this happened the prison opened a process known as Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT), where he would be closely observed by prison staff, assisted by a team of health care professionals and psychiatric services.
Once a prisoner was deemed no longer at risk of self-harm or suicide the ACCT would be
closed, but only if all parties including the prisoner - agreed. Mr Cristea had been subject to an ACCT between March 29 and April 29, over feeling estranged from his family. He was placed on ACCT again on May 29 after cutting his stomach and believing his cell was haunted. Mr
Cristea was known to have taken both cannabis and spice while in prison.
Two days before he was found suspended, he was moved to another cell and seemed much more cheerful so the ACCT was closed. Senior prison officer Shane Maybourne told the
inquest the procedures had now changed so an ACCT was open for a minimum of 72 hours. The jury returned a unanimous verdict that although Mr Cristea had died as a result of his own actions, it was “an act of attention-seeking and self-harm and not suicide.”