Negligent prison staff 'contributed to death of inmate'

A DAMNING report into Scotland’s only private prison found that negligent managers and staff had contributed to the death of an inmate by falsifying suicide watch records.

The Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of James Barclay at Kilmarnock prison has found that officers had been searching for brushes to do some painting. According to newspaper reports, the officers had been told to paint a control room in preparation for a visit by Princess Anne.

Barclay, a 31-year-old petty criminal, hanged himself in his cell in January 2002 but the Fatal Accident Inquiry into his death has only just been published.

In his report, Sheriff Colin McKay found that officers falsified suicide watch forms and claimed they had checked on Barclay, 31, when they had not done so.

He said: "The failure of Premier Prison Services Limited to [make sure the rules were followed] ... was a factor contributing to the death of Mr Barclay."

Sheriff McKay reported that one of the prison officers had argued that it had been a "very busy night" and he had been "searching for brushes to do some painting they had been asked to do".

The damning report follows a BBC documentary earlier this month which revealed that staff at Kilmarnock turned a blind eye to heroin abuse and failed to monitor vulnerable inmates - despite six suicides there in the past five years.

The combination of the undercover BBC documentary and now the official report into the suicide of an inmate has strengthened opposition calls for the Scottish Executive to intervene and to take Kilmarnock out of the hands of its private operators, Premier Prisons.

Alex Neil, an SNP MSP and a persistent critic of the Kilmarnock management, demanded last night that ministers place the Scottish Prisons Service in charge of the controversial facility.

But a spokesman for the Executive said ministers had no intention of doing so and would continue to demand high standards of the managers and staff at Kilmarnock.

A spokesman for Premier Prisons also insisted that procedures at Kilmarnock had been tightened since Mr Barclay’s death and added there had been no suicides at the prison in the last two years.

The publication of the report this week is certain to turn the issue of private prisons into a major political topic once again, particularly as the Executive intends to use the private sector to provide it with a new prison in West Lothian in the near future.

Sheriff McKay concluded that Mr Barclay’s suicide might have been avoided had staff checked his cell on a regular basis, as they were supposed to do. His report refers to the regular "falsification" of suicide watch reports, with prison officers claiming to have monitored inmates regarded as "at risk" but not actually doing so - apparently confirming the claims made in the BBC documentary.