Sheriff's warning on jail staff after inmate's suicide

A SHERIFF has raised concerns about the "inexperience" of staff at the privately-run Addiewell Prison over an inmate's suicide just weeks after the jail opened.

Richard Crompton was serving a five-year sentence for drug offences at the controversial West Lothian prison when he was discovered hanging in his cell.

The 41-year-old Livingston man had been assessed on his arrival at jail by a staff member with just one hour's mental health training.

His death sparked a fatal accident inquiry to determine whether the prison, run by private company Kalyx, was at fault.

Sheriff Mhari Mactaggart concluded there was "nothing to suggest" that the level of training given to Kalyx staff contributed to the death, and ruled that "no reasonable precautions" could have prevented him from taking his life.

But she highlighted concerns that the recruitment of "inexperienced staff may have been part of the ethos of Kalyx". And she said many lacked any previous experience of working with inmates.

It comes after the West Lothian jail – dubbed "Hotel Addiewell" because prisoners enjoy en-suite facilities and flat-screen TVs – hit the headlines last month after reports of rioting by up to 100 inmates left two guards injured.

Since opening in 2008, the jail has been at the centre of repeated reports of violence and high levels of drug abuse among prisoners, leading to concerns over staffing levels.

Sheriff Mactaggart said Kalyx had accepted the need to roll out extra training for staff in dealing with prisoners' mental health issues following the suicide.

Drugs courier Crompton, who was jailed in October 2008 after police caught him with 320,000 of cocaine, was found dead in his cell on 19 January last year. He had been transferred to the jail ten days before, having previously been an inmate in Barlinnie where he had also been assessed as "no apparent risk".

In a report following the fatal accident inquiry, Sheriff Mactaggart said: "There was clear evidence at the inquiry that the majority of staff recruited by Kaylx were inexperienced within the prison service."

She added that prison custody officer Emma Dyet, who carried out the risk assessment on Crompton upon his arrival, "expressed concern that she had only received one hour of mental health training" as part of the jail's nine-week training programme. The sheriff wrote that recruiting inexperienced staff "may have been part of the ethos of Kalyx, in an attempt to move away from the old style of prisoner management".

But she added that there were "no defects in any system of working" which contributed to the death after reviewing its risk assessment procedures.

A Kalyx spokeswoman said: "The report found that there was nothing to suggest that the level of training given to Kalyx staff in any way contributed to the death of Mr Crompton."