Polmont failed in their duty of care to Katie
Glasgow University chaplain Rev Stuart McQuarrie said Katie’s treatment in prison was “primitive”.
McQuarrie also said that Katie would have been allowed to return to continue her studies.
He said: “It had already been agreed by people at the highest levels who were saying to me, ‘Make sure Katie’s OK.’
“Katie was the sort of person who would tell you things were OK when they weren’t because she wouldn’t want you to be worried.
“She had told me she thought she was being unfairly selected for the strip searches and, on one occasion, under the guise of it being some sort of training exercise.
“She was paraded naked in front of five or six female prison officers. That’s
horrible – it’s primitive. I understand the need for strip-searching but, because Katie was so compliant, they are going to choose her rather than ask someone who might tell them to ‘F off’. “Katie was a soft target. She was vulnerable from the very moment she walked into Polmont. “The system utterly failed to pick up the self-harm issue. Their duty of care was not fulfilled – it was abandoned. “If you are going to strip-search people, you have to take responsibility for what they see. If they find drugs, they will act on that.” He added: “The morning Katie’s mum phoned me to tell me she had died, I could instantly tell Linda was distressed. “It’s incredible but I found myself thinking, ‘Please let this be just that Katie has been battered.’ She told me that Katie was dead.” McQuarrie also called the sentencing into question. He added: “The sheriff’s decision to go down a custodial route was his judgment and his alone. “It was wrong. It was unnecessary and unjustified. “Katie was no threat to anyone and there was next to zero risk of her ever reoffending. “There was no need for her to be imprisoned.”