Head of Scottish prisons says service should not be immune from prosecution
Lawyer Aamer Anwar has called for a meeting with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to push for the lifting of Crown immunity.
The head of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has said Crown immunity for the prison service should be abolished, according to the lawyer representing the families of two young people who died in Polmont Young Offenders Institution.
The families of Katie Allan, 21, and William Lindsay, 16, who died within months of each other at Polmont in 2018, met the chief executive and deputy chief executive of the SPS on Wednesday.
The family’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, said that during the “robust and painful meeting” SPS chief executive Teresa Medhurst had accepted Crown immunity for the prison service should end, so that it can face prosecution.
Katie’s mum, Linda Allan, also said the meeting was the first time the families had not felt “demonised” by the prison service.
Ms Allan, a student at Glasgow University, was found dead on June 4 while serving a 16-month sentence for drink-driving and causing serious injury.
William – also known as William Brown – who had made repeated attempts on his life in 2017 which were detailed in reports provided on his admission, was found dead in his cell on October 7, three days after he was remanded due to a lack of space in a children’s unit.
A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) was held last year at Falkirk Sheriff Court into their deaths and 25 recommendations were made by sheriff Simon Collins.
Both the Scottish Government and SPS have already accepted in full the findings and recommendations of the inquiry.
Mr Anwar said it was “important” that Ms Medhurst had agreed Crown immunity for the prison service should be “abolished”.
“When you have a situation where the SPS agrees with the lifting of Crown immunity, when the Scottish Government and every opposition party in the Scottish Parliament agrees with the lifting of Crown immunity, the question really is now for the UK Government to deliver on that,” he said.
He added: “The next stage for the families, and for a number of other families we act for, is for a meeting with (Prime Minister Sir) Keir Starmer and the Justice Minister, because they carry the power to do this.
“There is clearly unity right across Scotland, from all the institutions as well as the family, to remove Crown immunity. It’s unacceptable.”
The lawyer recalled that a former Police Scotland chief constable had once raised this issue with him, asking why the police can be prosecuted but that the prison service, which can “lock people up for 24 hours, seven days a week,” cannot.
He added that the SPS had “gaslighted” families for years but, having fully accepted the findings and recommendations of the FAI, it had “no choice” but to change.
Linda Allan described the meeting as the “beginning of a dialogue” with the SPS, which she said was a “complete reversal” of what the families had experienced over the past seven years.
She thanked Ms Medhurst and deputy chief executive Linda Pollock for what she said was a “very positive, honest and robust response today, and their honesty and their obvious willingness to see change”.
She added: “For the first time we didn’t feel demonised by the prison service, but we felt listened to, and we found that very restorative.”
Speaking after the meeting, Ms Medhurst said: “This was just an opportunity to meet personally with the families, to offer our apologies for their loss, the tragic loss of Katie and William, and to apologise for the failures of the past.
“And to ensure that they understand we are committed and determined to not only action the recommendations that we have accepted in full, but to ensure that there is systemic change across the organisation, which will be impactful and lasting.”
She later added in a statement that she was grateful to the families for agreeing to the meeting and said the change needed would be delivered at pace and also be transparent.
She said: “We have listened carefully and recognise (the families) want immediate action and accountability.”
The meeting comes just days after the families met with Justice Secretary Angela Constance at Holyrood, ahead of a statement to Parliament in which she pledged “lasting change”.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with the families of Katie Allan and William Lindsay (Brown).
“The Scottish Government will continue to pursue the lifting of the Scottish Prison Service’s corporate Crown immunity under reserved health and safety law with the UK Government.
“All of sheriff Collins’s recommendations in his determination of the Fatal Accident Inquiry into the deaths at Polmont YOI of Katie and William have been accepted and the work on these is being delivered at pace with progress closely monitored.
“The Justice Secretary met with the families last week to re-iterate this Government’s commitment to ensuring ongoing and decisive action creates the lasting change they rightly demand and deserve.”
The UK Government has been approached for comment.
