A prisoner described having a terrifying "flashback" the day before he took his own life.
A police call handler described Jason Watson as sounding "erratic and upset and had concerns for his mental health" when he dialled 999 from his jail cell. Another said his speech was "fast and frantic" and she feared he was having "some mental health issues while breaking down at the end of the telephone call".
At the time of his death, the 34-year-old was just months into his three years and four month sentence imposed by the High Court in Glasgow following his guilty plea to a raft of charges, including assault to severe injury.
The findings of a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into Watson's death as Barlinnie Prison were published last week and reveal that he made three calls to the 999 service on the evening of February 25, 2021, two days before his body was discovered in his cell.
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During the third call it was established that he was an inmate at the Glasgow jail, but police call handlers say they tried multiple times to get through to prison staff to request a welfare check on the 34-year-old, but the line was repeatedly engaged for an hour and 20 minutes.
First line manager at Barlinnie Gary Hughes told the inquiry he was told Watson had been making nuisance phone calls and instructed prison officers to go to his cell on the same evening.
Sheriff MD Jackson presided over the inquiry at Glasgow Sheriff Court earlier this year, and the report points out: "The prison officers attended Mr Watson’s cell due to information that he was making nuisance calls to the emergency services. The making of such calls is against protocol, and the incident did not appear to be dealt with as a welfare check, as requested.
"There was no exploration with Mr Watson as to why he was calling the emergency services or anything beyond a superficial assessment of his welfare and how he presented. None of the officers, for example, asked him how he was, or if there was anything troubling him which had caused him to contact the emergency services."
However, Sheriff Jackson later pointed out that at no point in the conversation with police did Watson suggest he wanted to harm himself and his history of paranoia and delusional thinking were known to the mental health team at the prison.
The report explained: "Accordingly, this state of mind was already known to the mental health team at Barlinnie prison before those calls were made on 25 February 2021. Indeed, the entries of January 9 and February 5, 2021 recording the consultations between Mr Watson and Dr Sankey also report a degree of unusual thinking when Mr Watson reported his plans to create a new app, invent a new TV aerial and reported that his grandfather was a serial killer about whom he wished to write a book."
Sheriff Jackson determined that Watson chose to take his own life overnight between February 26 and 27, having told a mental health medic just hours earlier that "he had no intention to self-harm or suicide."
He ruled that nothing could reasonably have been done to prevent his death, however, he urged the Scottish Prison Service to examine the issue surrounding the inability of police to contact the prison on February 25.
He added: "I should add, by way of observation rather than recommendation, that it is surprising that the police 999 control room was unable to contact anyone within the Barlinnie prison for a period of one hour and 20 minutes.
"I have already indicated that I do not consider this failure of communication to justify inclusion within a section 26(2)(g) finding. I am mindful, however, that this determination will be considered by those authorities responsible for such channels of communication and I am hopeful that they will reflect upon the desirability of ensuring that this particular channel of communication remains open and accessible at all times."
