WILLIAM Lindsay was 16 when he took his own life in Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution.
The vulnerable young man had been placed there despite concerns about his mental health because there were no secure units to hold him.
When he died in 2018, he was the fourth person within a year to have taken their own life in the prison.
Under new rules introduced this week, he would not have been imprisoned, following the announcement 16 and 17-year-olds will no longer be sent to Young Offenders Institutes.
Katie Allan who died by suicide in the same prison earlier that year, would not have been given the same leniency.
Glasgow University student Katie was aged 21 when she took her own life in Polmont – after an alarming deterioration in her mental health her parents say went ignored by the prison service.
Speaking to the Sunday National, her mother Linda, 55, welcomed the announcement but demanded politicians go further.
“Prison is no place for anyone,” said Linda, from Clarkston, East Renfrewshire.
“I am trying not to be pessimistic but I just hope one institution is not replaced by another. It’s not about the building, it’s about the culture, the treatment of people and the loss of hope, obviously that’s what happened to our daughter.”
Katie was serving a 16-month sentence for a hit-and-run on a 15-year-old boy and her parents claim she was so severely bullied behind bars that her hair fell out.
Minister for children Clare Haughey said earlier this week the move to take under-18s out of prison come as part of a raft of measures branded The Promise.
It includes pledges to introduce cash allowances for foster and kinship carers, a £200 per year grant for 16 to 25-year-olds who have lived in care and a redesign of the Children’s Hearing system.
Linda (above) fears politicians may lack “the courage” to implement more wide-reaching reforms of the Scottish justice system.
“There has to be insight and intelligence applied,” she said. We no longer live in the 18th century. We’ve been doing this since Victorian times – somebody does something wrong, send them to prison. Has it worked? Has it hell.”
Katie – a first time offender who was “no risk to the public” – should never have been sent to prison, her mother said.
While inside, she was surrounded by people openly discussing suicide and comparing methods for taking their lives in earshot of disinterested prison guards, Linda claimed.
“The institutionalised behaviour of prison staff is evident the minute you walk through the door,” said Linda.
“In [Katie’s] hall – the female young offenders – they were constantly talking about how to commit suicide and what the most effective way to do so is. And there is no intervention from prison officers. Constant bullying, no intervention. Strip searches – it’s just heart-breaking.”
The Government must also commit to holding a full public inquiry into deaths in custody as well as overhauling the way prison suicides are examined through the fatal accident inquiry system – a “waste” of public money – according to Linda.
Fiona Dyer (above), the director of the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice, said children found being imprisoned “deeply distressing” and often ended up behind bars for minor infractions such as breaching bail conditions or failing to appear in court.
She added: “It is our hope that this change is supported by a trauma-informed workforce who are trained to ensure the needs, experiences, maturity and development of the child are considered; and who can uphold and respect children’s rights.”
Following a report into the rate of prison deaths in Scotland – one of the highest in Northern Europe – Justice Secretary Keith Brown welcomed “in principle” its recommendations, which included setting up an independent body specifically to investigate prison deaths.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is committed to making improvements to the response to, and experiences of, families impacted by a death in prison custody and recently welcomed in principle all the recommendations of the independent review into the response to deaths in prison custody to improve processes when a death occurs in prison.
“HM Chief Inspector of Prisons recently confirmed satisfaction at progress made in addressing mental health support needs for young people at Polmont following an independent review in 2019.
“The law requires organisations to respond to Fatal Accident Inquiry recommendations and that response is published. The Scottish Government would expect all public bodies to carefully consider and act upon a Sheriff’s recommendations.
“The consultation on sending 16 and 17-year-olds to YOIs will consider feedback and shape legislation ahead of it being introduced to Parliament.”
The Scottish Prison Service was approached for comment.
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