Scottish Prison Service ‘should not be immune from prosecution', says its boss
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) should not be immune from prosecution, its chief executive has admitted.
Teresa Medhurst said Crown immunity for the SPS should be abolished during a meeting with the families of two young people who died in Polmont Young Offenders Institution.
Katie Allan, 21, and William Lindsay, 16, died within months of each other at the facility in 2018. Their families met Ms Medhurst and her deputy on Wednesday.
Aamer Anwar, the lawyer representing the families, said that during the 'robust and painful meeting', Ms Medhurst accepted Crown immunity for the prison service should end, so that it can face prosecution.
Katie's mother, Linda Allan, said the meeting was the first time the families had not felt 'demonised' by the prison service.
Ms Allan, a student at the University of Glasgow, 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 Oct 7, three days after he was remanded because of a lack of space in a children's unit.
A fatal accident inquiry into their deaths was held last year at Falkirk Sheriff Court and 25 recommendations were made by Simon Collins, the sheriff.
The Scottish Government and SPS have accepted the findings and recommendations.
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.
Mr Anwar added: 'The next stage for the families, and for a number of other families we act for, is for a meeting with 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.'
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 Linda Pollock, the deputy chief executive, 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.'
The meeting comes days after the families met Angela Constance, the justice secretary, at Holyrood, ahead of a statement to Parliament in which she pledged 'lasting change'.
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