The head of a charity supporting families in prisons has highlighted the potential of innovative technology in a Scottish jail aimed at preventing people taking their own lives behind bars.
Professor Nancy Loucks, chief executive of Families Outside, said there is “real scope” to make use of the ‘signs of life’ technology, which was a recommendation from the fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of two young people who died by suicide in Polmont Young Offenders Institution (YOI).
Katie Allan, 21, and William Brown, 16, also known as William Lindsay, were found dead in their cells within four months of each other in 2018.
William, who had been in care repeatedly, was sent to Polmont on remand after walking into a police station with a knife, as there was no place for him in a secure children’s home.
Katie was three months into a 16-month sentence for causing serious injury by dangerous driving and drink driving.
Last year a sheriff found a “catalogue of failures” led to their deaths and there were reasonable precautions which could have been taken to avoid them taking their own lives.
Among a series of recommendations, Sheriff Simon Collins KC called on the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to pilot signs of life suicide prevention and monitoring technology in Polmont YOI (main photo).
“There’s a real scope to try to make use of that technology that’s available”
Professor Nancy Loucks, Families Outside chief executive
Speaking at the Futurescot digital justice and policing conference in Glasgow, Loucks said: “I went to see some of this technology… and it was actually very, very interesting to see how that works.
“It’s very unobtrusive. It looks sort of like a smoke detector installed in the ceiling.
“This could have potential, not just to be used for preventing suicides, but for looking at natural cause deaths, for example, where people are unwell.
“There’s a real scope to try to make use of that technology that’s available.”
She told the conference at Strathclyde University there is also a need to “make sure that actually works in the context of a Scottish prison”.
Loucks told 1919 Magazine: “I think it will help. The prison staff that we spoke to wouldn’t be wanting this to replace in-person contact.”
She said the devices have been installed in a handful of cells in HMP Stirling, where she saw them while visiting as part of a ministerial accountability board.
Loucks said others have been put in place in Polmont YOI as part of the trial scheme.
She added: “For me, it’s about making sure that people have a humane approach to keeping people safe.”
An SPS spokesperson said: “We are committed to a range of actions which will be enduring and impactful, and will improve how we support people in the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
“This includes the piloting of signs of life technology, which will help our staff keep people safe by monitoring movements in a way which is proportionate and not intrusive.”
A report on the pilot scheme is due to be submitted to ministers this month.