In a heart-wrenching revelation, an extensive investigation has uncovered that the tragic deaths of two young inmates at Scotland’s Polmont young offenders institution could have been prevented. The 419-page report, delving into the suicides of 20-year-old Katie Allan and 16-year-old William Lindsay within months of each other in 2018, exposes a litany of systemic failures that ultimately cost these young lives.
A Catalogue of Failures
Sheriff Simon Collins KC, who led the joint inquiry, did not mince words in his damning assessment. The report paints a picture of a system that fundamentally failed in its duty of care, despite clear warning signs about the vulnerabilities of both Allan and Lindsay.
For William Lindsay, who died a mere three days after being sent to Polmont, the failures were especially egregious. As his brother John Reilly emotionally recounted, William, “a terrified little boy,” was left isolated in a cell for up to 10 hours at a time. This, despite his known history of self-harming behavior and the fact that he was only at Polmont because no space was available in a children’s secure unit.
Katie Allan’s Brutal Experience
Katie Allan’s mother, Linda, shared the harrowing details of her daughter’s experience at Polmont while serving a 16-month sentence for a driving offense. Subjected to degrading strip searches and unrelenting bullying, Katie “was brutalized…so much so that she lost all hope and saw only one solution, her death.”
The inquiry unveiled a series of missed opportunities and oversights by prison and healthcare staff in recording and sharing critical information about Katie’s self-harm risk. Had her cell been made safe, at a minimal cost, Sheriff Collins concluded she would still be alive today.
Justice for the Victims
For the grieving families, the report offers vindication but also fuels their determination to fight for systemic change. They are demanding a complete overhaul of Scotland’s fatal accident inquiry (FAI) system, to ensure that its recommendations become legally binding and actionable.
The hardest thing for us to accept is that a screwdriver could have saved Katie’s life. A bunk bed being replaced by a single bed could have saved William’s life.
– Linda Allan, mother of Katie Allan
Deborah Coles, executive director of the charity Inquest, highlighted that this scathing report is an exception to the usual “institutional culture of secrecy, defensiveness, complacency and neglect” surrounding deaths in custody. She advocated for swifter inquiries, better access to legal aid for families, and crucially, a national oversight mechanism to ensure recommendations are implemented.
Ending Prisons’ Immunity
Perhaps most strikingly, the families’ lawyer, Aamer Anwar, issued a powerful call for the UK government to strip prisons of their immunity from prosecution. Revealing that the Scottish authorities had deemed there was sufficient evidence to prosecute the Scottish Prison Service in these cases under health and safety laws, Anwar decried this “archaic law” as a “license to kill” that must be revoked across the UK.
As the Scottish Prison Service pledges to carefully consider the report’s 25 recommendations, the question remains: how many more young lives will be needlessly lost before transformative action is taken? The time for empty apologies and inaction is over. For Katie Allan, William Lindsay, and countless others failed by the system, justice demands urgent reform and accountability.
