Inmates have been using vaping devices to start fires in West Yorkshire prisons, a fire authority meeting has heard. There has been a 23% increase in the number of non-residential fires deliberately started in Leeds since April, with fires in prisons making up the bulk of the rise. The incidents were often related to drug […]
A prison inmate accidentally set himself on fire while trying to smoke an illicit substance in his cell. Bradford man Kevin Delahunty, who was serving five years for burglary, died in hospital after he was found on fire at HMP Risley. He was 40 years old. When he was found, he had significant burns to […]
A prisoner who was found deceased in his cell by prison guards at HMP Whatton had been ‘dead for some time’, according to an investigation into his death. The prisoner had covered the observation panel of his cell, and was later found hanged, prompting the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman to recommend that a protocol is […]
Risk assessment concerns have been raised at a North-east prison following the suicide of a sex offender. Glen Adrian was found hanged in his cell on March 8, last year, at HMP Durham. The 27-year-old was the seventh prisoner to take his life at the prison in three years and the fourth in four months. Following […]
A company has been fined £600,000 after it failed to manage the risk of legionella bacteria in water systems at a prison, which led to a prisoner’s death. Graham Butterworth died on 5 December 2017 after contracting legionnaires’ disease while serving a prison sentence at HMP Lincoln. Amey Community Limited, which provided facilities management services […]
Manchester’s Strangeways prison has been criticised in an report arising from the death of a prisoner. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), which independently investigates deaths in custody, has issued a series of recommendations to HMP Manchester after finding ‘significant concerns’ – and called for a ‘disciplinary investigation’ into the actions of segregation unit staff […]
More prisoners could die unless “urgent” action is taken, after four suspected drug deaths in a prison in six months, said an ombudsman. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman said a report showed there were “significant amounts” of drugs in HMP The Mount in Bovingdon near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Two prisoners died from using psychoactive substances […]
Some individuals will experience a planned death in prison. For some, compassionate release to alternative premises in which they can end their life is either not possible or unwanted and therefore there is a requirement that those individuals who do have a planned death in a custodial setting experience the highest standards of care. Read […]
An urgent investigation has been launched after the death of a 22 year-old Forest Bank prison inmate. Jake O’Brien’s devastated family have paid tribute to him after his death on Tuesday (November 12). They said Jake, from Trafford, was on remand at Forest Bank, a Category B men’s private prison in Pendlebury, Salford, after being […]
A prison made mistakes before the death of an inmate who had struggled with mental health issues. Shane Davies, 33, made “many” pleas for medication before he was found hanged in his HMP Cardiff cell, the prisons ombudsman has found. Mr Davies was remanded to HMP Bristol for drug offences in May 2022 before being moved to […]
Prison staff found Brian Walters struggling for breath on October 27 and called the emergency services. The 68-year-old was taken to Hinchingbrooke Hospital where he is said to have suffered a further cardiac arrest. “Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful,” Caroline Jones, an area coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough said during the brief […]
Wayne was a 43-year-old Black man who had diagnoses of sickle cell disease, epilepsy and delusional disorder. He was found unresponsive in a cell on the healthcare unit at HMP Pentonville on the evening of 17 May 2022, having been subject to restraint by prison officers ten hours earlier. The jury found that Wayne died […]