The family of a prisoner who was left to die in his cell have launched a nationwide fight for justice.
More than 60 supporters gathered outside the Scottish Parliament yesterday to demand justice for Calum Inglis and have won backing from the family of Allan Marshall, who died a preventable death in prison.
Calum, 34, died at HMP Addiewell in West Lothian last October – 10 days after testing positive for Covid.
His family claim prison staff ignored the asthma sufferer’s dying pleas for medical help and failed to call an ambulance even though he was coughing up blood.
Yesterday, mum Jen, 62, dad Alan, 61, aunt Linda Simpson, 66, and sister Frances Marr, 32, led the launch of the Justice for Calum Inglis campaign.
Jen said: “We know this is just the start of a long road to get justice for my son.”
Alan added: “The fantastic turnout makes us feel we are not alone.”
The family have called for the privately run prison to be closed and the officers responsible for his care to be prosecuted.
The Sunday Mail first revealed the shocking details of Calum’s tragic death last week.
Sister Frances Marr, a nurse practitioner, said: “We are not the victims in this situation, Calum is. But he is not here to fight for himself, so we must do it for him.”
Evidence from other prisoners and text messages from a phone Calum had in his cell outlined how his pleas for help went unanswered.
He repeatedly requested medical attention via his cell intercom in the last four days of his life and was promised by prison officers that “someone will see you in the morning” – but nobody ever came.
Calum’s final message to his mum, on the day before he died, read: “Feel like I am about 90 years old, completely burning up, it’s scary.”
The prison also mislaid most of Calum’s clothing and personal items, which the family later discovered had been donated to a prison “poor box”.
Calum, who was 6ft 7in, was found dead in his cell at 8.24am on October 24 last year.
The family have been told there will be a fatal accident inquiry but fear it will be years before it takes place.
Calum, from Edinburgh, had worked as a labourer and kitchen fitter and in 2020 he was convicted of assault and sentenced to 36 months. He was due for release in January.
Friend Stevie Morrison, 35, who organised the protest, also called for a full investigation into his death.
Dad-of-three Stevie, from Edinburgh, said: “If Calum had been looked after properly he would still be alive today.”
Backing for the campaign yesterday came from the family of another death in custody victim, Allan Marshall. Allan, 30, from Glasgow, died at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in March 2015 and the Sunday Mail published shocking CCTV images of him being dragged to his death by officers at the city’s Saughton jail.
A fatal accident inquiry into Allan’s death in 2018 ruled it was “entirely preventable”.
His aunt Sharon MacFadyen, 47, of Rutherglen, near Glasgow, said: “We would be willing to support the Inglis family in any way we can.”
HMP Addiewell is run by private firm Sodexo Justice Services and has been hit with controversies over staffing shortages since it opened at a cost of £80million in 2008.
Prison director Fraser Munro expressed his condolences to the family but couldn’t comment because of FAI plans.
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