Prisoner found dead ‘had drug and mental health problems’
A MAN found dead in his prison cell had a history of drug and mental health problems, an inquest has heard.
Christopher Desmond Slade was found hanged in HMP Parc in Bridgend in 2019.
An inquest was told that the 25-year-old had a troubled life and had been in and out of prison since his teens, as well as a history of selfharming.
And a coroner was told that Mr Slade had previously told a prison psychiatrist he had been physically abused as a child.
Mr Slade, one of four children, had also told his mother Tammy that “it was easier to be in prison than to live on the outside”.
The inquest at Pontypridd’s Coroner’s Court. which was listened to by a jury, was told that Mr Slade left school aged 16 without taking his GCSEs and had moved into a bedsit with the help of youth offending services.
By that time in his young life, he’d already been excluded from one school, was a regular drug user and had begun offending.
Tammy, whose statement was read aloud at the hearing, said things got worse for her son when he left home and he received his first prison sentence soon after for stealing from shops and cars.
His first spell in HMP Parc Prison was for four and a half months for theft, aged 17.
Coroner Graeme Hughes said that on July 11, 2019, a “code blue” had been raised at HMP Parc Prison at 7.11pm and staff rushed to Mr Slade’s single cell.
“Christopher Slade was located between the bed in his cell,” Mr Hughes said. Despite CPR efforts, he was pronounced dead by paramedics at 7.45pm.
Mr Hughes also read out a toxicology report written by Dr Dawn Reed, which said blood tests showed evidence of use of synthetic cannabinoids, namely spice.
Mr Slade’s drug use was confirmed by Dr Rosemary Marnell, who worked as a GP in the prison.
Her report, also read out by Mr Hughes, detailed how Mr Slade had a history of self-harm and an attempt of self-strangulation in the past.
He’d also told a prison psychiatrist that he’d been abused as a child, having been thrown down some stairs in a suitcase and locked in a cupboard when he was just three years old.
Mr Slade admitted he’d been taking drugs since his early teens, including cannabis and then psychoactive substances and that he continued to smoke drugs.
“He’d been given advice and was aware of the risks he took when using these drugs,” Dr Reed said.
Dr Reed said she had seen Mr Slade in October 2018 after he reported rectal bleeding and she took the opportunity to enquire about his mental health.
He’d told her his mood was okay and he was coping well in prison, she said. Regrettably, he did not attend any follow-up appointments made for him to see a gastrointestinal specialist at Morriston Hospital.
In the summer of 2019, he was found to be under the influence of psychoactive substances in prison and in June, staff noted fresh cuts to his left arm.
A care planning process called Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) was opened for Mr Slade, which is specifically for inmates considered at risk of suicide and/or self-harm, but closed very soon after.
Miss Slade said she knew her son used cannabis but didn’t think he was a “high user” of other types of drugs. It didn’t seem to affect his day-to-day functioning, she added and that it was only once he went to prison that he started using spice.
She’d asked him once: “Why are you always getting in trouble and going back to prison?” to which he replied he found it “easier” to live in prison.
The five-day inquest, which was also attended by representatives from G4S, the private firm which operates HMP Parc Prison, will consider evidence of Mr Slade’s treatment in prison and establish exactly how and why he died on July 11.
As part of this, it will consider his state of mind at or around his time of death and any factors which may have contributed to his mental state and ultimately his death.
The inquest continues.