Shock of 30 suicide bids at Katie jail
Grieving family’s plea after new figures
A prison hit with a spate of suicides has had 30 inmates attempt to take their own lives in the last five years.
Statistics show that since 2013, a detainee at Polmont Young Offenders Institution has tried to kill themselves every two months. Only Saughton Prison had a h igher number of incidents.
Staff at the Edinburgh jail recorded 35 a t t empted suicides although the high-security pr i son has about double the population.
The Scottish Government h a s announced a review into young peoples’ mental health services at the prison , fol lowing a Sunday Mail investigation into the premature death of Katie Allan, 21, who died in June
Her case was highlighted along with the deaths of f ive teenagers at the jail before the independent inqui ry was launched last month by Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf.
Our investigation into the running of Polmont included interviews with the families of five other teenagers who died at the prison. Relatives of William Lindsay, 16, Robert Wagstaff, 18, Daniel Barclay, 19, Craig Clifton, 19, Raygen Merchant, 17, and Ross McColm, 19, spoke of their grief.
There have been 11 deaths there since 2005.
Solicitor Aamer Anwar, who represents the families of Katie and William, said: “Polmont and the Scottish Prison Service stand accused of hiding the true picture of the lives that are being lost. They manipulate figures and hide behind fatal accident inquiries – which take place several years later – so they can avoid responsibility and true scrutiny. “Sadly, many of the families such as those of Katie Allan and William Lindsay ask me the question, ‘How many more must die before the cries for help are heard?’” Scottish Conservative mental health spokeswoman Annie Wells said: “These are appalling st a t i s t ic s w h ich s hould gi ve all po pol iticians pa paus e for tho thought. “Clearly cha changes are muc much-needed to imimprove the care of these vul ne r a bl e young people. This situation cannot continue, and all parties need to come together to find a solution to this crisis.”
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) released the latest figures under freedom of information laws.
HMP Inverness had fewer suicide attempts in the same period – 16 – but its low population means that per head, its rate was even higher than Polmont’s.
The SPS said that since 2016, Polmont YOI had also held f ema le pr i soner s whi le renovation work took place at Cornton Vale, the country’s only female prison, in Stirling.
They added that women are among the highest rate of selfharmers in the prison population which may have contributed to Polmont’s high rate of attempted suicide.
In November, 93 women made up Polmont’s total population of 458. But Saughton has also taken a similar number of females from Cornton Vale and last month made up 100 of Edinburgh’s 900 total.
Across the prison population, 33 per cent of all attempted suicides involved 10 people.
SPS added: “We have invested a great deal of time and energy into our suicide prevention strategy.
“We are deal ing with a complex and often troubled population where unfortunately self- harming behaviours do occur.
“On December 5, 2016, SPS implemented the new Suicide Prevention Strategy, Talk to Me. The revised strategy introduced a concern form whereby staff could record when someone had sel f- harmed and ini t iate appropriate referrals or, if the risk of suicide was identified, place them on Talk to Me.
“This process again raised the profile of self-harm and improved recording and reporting of incidents by staff.”
All parties need to come together to find a solution to crisis