The mother of a student who took her own life in a Young Offenders Institution has said she was “brutalised” in custody, while the brother of a 16-year-old boy who died there accused the prison service of acting like a god.
Katie Allan, 21, and William Brown, 16, also known as William Lindsay, died within months of each other in Polmont YOI in 2018.
Ms Allan, a student at Glasgow University, was found dead in her cell on June 4 while serving a 16-month sentence for drink-driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Mr Brown was found dead in his cell on October 7, three days after being remanded due to a lack of space in a children’s secure unit.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) at Falkirk Sheriff Court was led by Sheriff Simon Collins KC, who issued 25 recommendations in a report.
In his determination, published on Friday, the sheriff found there were reasonable precautions by which both deaths might realistically have been avoided, and that systemic failures contributed to them.
Katie’s mother, Linda Allan, told a press conference that simple changes “could have saved” both lives.
She said that in 2021, a young person died by suicide using a method identified as a risk in 2019 – and two other people had taken their own lives there since 2018.
Mrs Allan described her daughter as “my double” and said: “She had a strong heart for social injustice.”
However, she said her daughter was “bullied”, “petrified” and “taunted” in custody.
She said: “Katie was brutalised in Polmont, so much so that she lost all hope and saw only one solution – her death.”
She described what happened as a “complete systemic failure among the prison service.”
She said Katie suffered hair loss during her sentence and was told she had “too many books” by a prison officer.
Mrs Allan said: “Scotland enjoys spouting forth human rights platitudes. There are no human rights upheld in our story.
“Katie was not afforded her right to life and we have not been afforded a prompt or transparent investigation into Katie’s death.
“The prison service gets away with creating the circumstances by which people die prematurely, no sanctions exist, they cannot be criminally prosecuted.”
She recalled a conversation where her daughter said: “Mum, there are three types of women in here: women like me who have made a mistake; women who feel safe in here because their home is worse; and women who are very ill.”
Katie’s father, Stuart Allan, added: “She loved to help people. This is the kind of thing she would have been involved in.”
William’s grieving brother, John Reilly, said he blamed “everyone who came into contact with William” for his sibling’s death.
Mr Reilly added: “He still died on their watch. William was left for 10 hours, so there isn’t a timeframe for when he died.
“There were three different suicide letters left for us. In those hours someone could have looked in and seen what he was doing.”
He said William was a family-orientated child, and said that SPS “act as they though are a god with a total freedom to kill”.
Mr Reilly said: “There are those who should be in prison for William’s death, yet they have never suffered any consequences and it is time the law was changed.”
An SPS spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with the families of Katie Allan and William Lindsay and we would like to take this opportunity to offer our sincere condolences and apologies for the failures identified in this report.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to support people and keep them safe during the most challenging and vulnerable periods of their lives.
“We are grateful to Sheriff Collins for his recommendations, which we will now carefully consider before responding further.”
Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “My deepest sympathies and condolences are with the families of Katie Allan and William Lindsay, who have lost a child and sibling.
“I am deeply sorry about their deaths and that their families have had to wait so long for the conclusion of this process.
“I fully appreciate that this has been an arduous process and will have compounded the trauma and distress of the families.”
She added: “Deaths from suicide in custody are as tragic as they are preventable, and the deaths of these two young people should not have happened whilst they were in the care of the state.”
