‘It was prolonged and sustained torture of prisoner’
Inmate recalls harrowing events that led to death of Allan Marshall
A prisoner who witnessed death-in-custody inmate Allan Marshall being dragged to his death has claimed the force used by officers was the worst he had ever seen.
The former inmate at HMP Edinburgh spoke to the Reformer’s sister paper the Sunday Mail about what he saw on condition of anonymity.
Following a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the Castlemilk man’s death last year, Sheriff Gordon Liddle described the evidence of jail guards as “mutually and consistently dishonest”.
And, in the same 109-page report, the lawman said testimonies given by three prisoners was “consistent” and “straightforward”.
Now, one of the inmates has broken his silence on the harrowing final moments of Mr Marshall whose family live in Rutherglen inside the jail.
The 40-year-old described how he felt helpless hearing Mr Marshall’s screams as up to 13 guards brought him under control.
He said: “I was annoyed I couldn’t help him. If I could have opened the door, I would have run to his defence.
“I’d never seen restraint with such levels of force and for so long. I had tears in my eyes seeing what happened. It was a prolonged and sustained torture of a prisoner.”
The former offender said he viewed the incident through a hatch in his cell door in the segregation and reintegration unit (SRU) where Mr Marshall was dragged naked, feet first and face down across a corridor with a towel over his face.
Mr Marshall suffered multiple injuries in the incident and died four days later in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary while in an induced coma on March 28, 2015.
He was being held in prison after he appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court on a breach of the peace charge and remanded on custody because of unpaid fines.
Mr Marshall’s family have demanded action is taken against prison officers who were involved in restraining the dad of two.
Disturbing video footage of the incident - published by the Sunday Mail online - shows Mr Marshall being held down and dragged along the floor with a warden holding his limbs and placing a towel over his head.
But guards seen in the footage were offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for taking part in an FAI.
The ex-inmate added: “The restraint went on far too long. I saw his arm being twisted with extreme, brutal force and him being hit in the ribs. They were also using their feet to restrain him.
“The police later asked if Allan was making any noises. I said he was screaming. It was a high-pitched shrill, like a horror movie scream. He was in that much pain.”
The former prisoner, who was serving 12 months for theft and fraud, added: “He couldn’t retaliate – he was exhausted. It was almost as if the life was draining from him.
“He then went limp, as if he was a dead weight on the floor, half a metre from my door.
“But they were still pushing him. I saw his skin go grey and blue.
“Then they realised he was not moving and I saw shock on their faces. The nurses ran in at that point with defibrillators to try to revive him.”
Following the restraint, a guard can be seen on CCTV closing the prisoner’s hatch.
The former inmate added: “I was asked by the CID if I wanted to give a statement and I said yes.
“I also said I’d tell the boy’s family exactly what I’d seen.”
During the FAI, Judge Sheriff Liddle described the Inverness prisoner’s evidence as “unsettling”.
He wrote: “He said that he saw Mr Marshall being ‘dragged’ along the section, which corresponds with what can be seen in the video recording. He describes and correctly named a number of the officers that he saw.”
The inmate, who was privately educated and is a trained mechanic, says he plans to stay out of jail. He hopes to start college next year and then get a job.