Staff thought dying prisoner was ‘faking it’

A diabetic prisoner who died after being restrained and left on a HMP Peterborough cell floor in isolation for 21 hours was subjected to “truly shocking” treatment, a report has found.

Staff at the privately-run HMP Peterborough believed Annabella Landsberg was “play-acting” and that they spent “far too long” before carrying out proper examinations despite her being critically ill, the Prisons and ProbationOmbudsmansaid.

An inquest jury on Thursday also found there were “failings” by the Sodexo-operated prison in Cambridgeshire, as well as by custody officers, healthcare staff and doctors.

The 45-year-old mother-of-three was restrained by prison staff on September 2, 2017 and left without examination by healthcare staff for 21 hours. When she was finally examined the following day, she was found to be “extremely ill” and sent to hospital where she died on September 6, the report found.

“The events leading up to Ms Landsberg’s death are truly shocking,” it said.

“Both discipline and nursing staff assumed initially that Ms Landsberg was play-acting and it took them far too long to seek managerial intervention, and to carry out appropriate clinical examinations.”

After the hearing, sister Sandra Landsberg said: “It was very distressing to learn that my sister was left on her cell floor for so long when she was so unwell, repeatedly considered to be ‘faking it’. My sister will not come back, but no other family should have to go through this.”