A leading human rights lawyer has challenged Humza Yousaf to remove the prison service’s “licence to kill” by ending its immunity from prosecution over custody deaths.
Aamer Anwar has spoken out five years after Katie Allan, 21, and William Lindsay, 16, took their own lives at a jail for young people amid claims of serious care failings.
Katie died at Polmont Young Offenders Institution, near Falkirk, in June 2018 while serving a sentence for a driving offence.
William’s death was in October of the same year while he was on remand at the same prison. The Crown Office finally confirmed in May a joint fatal accident inquiry (FAI) will be held.
However it has also emerged that despite “credible and reliable evidence” for a successful criminal prosecution under health and safety laws, no action can be taken because the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has Crown immunity.
Anwar said: “Despite the families of Katie Allan and William Lindsay being told there was credible evidence that the prison service breached the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing in its duty of care to Katie and William, there was absolutely nothing that could be done, other than issuing a written censure.
“Police Scotland do not have that immunity, so why should the prison service. The reason is that our prisons come under the control of Scottish Ministers and are therefore immune from prosecutions of this type.
“This is the case despite the fact we are constantly told by first ministers and justice secretaries that they have no control over what the SPS does with prisoners.
“All that can happen is that the Health and Safety Executive can summon the SPS for a Crown Censure - but it is not legally binding and nor can the SPS be prosecuted for further breaches.
“The irony is that had Polmont been a private prison they could have been prosecuted.”
Anwar, who has previously represented Humza Yousaf personally, added: “My challenge to the first minister on the fifth anniversary of Katie Allan’s death is to lift Crown immunity from the SPS.
“He may claim the issue is reserved to Westminster, but the Scottish Government is more than willing to go to war with the Tories over bottle return and gender policy, so why not over the human rights of young people in custody.
“He should take away the so called licence to kill from the SPS, take back control and save lives.”
Katie’s mum Linda last week told the Sunday Mail how she had suffered five years of “lies, insults and disdain” from prison and prosecution authorities since the death of her daughter.
Anwar added: “The families feel they have they have been treated with such contempt and arrogance by the SPS because they have the shield of immunity to hide behind.
“The worst that can happen after a death is a Fatal Accident Inquiries held several years later which cannot apportion blame. There is an unacceptable culture of violence, bullying, drugs and threats within our prisons which is shrouded in a cloud of bureaucratic secrecy.
“We need radical reform of our criminal justice system to ensure there is consistency when sentencing offending young men and women.
“Where young people do find themselves in one of Scotland’s prisons they should be treated like human beings and protected from harm - that doesn’t seem much to ask.”
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