A teenager has killed himself at one of Scotland’s only young offender facilities, a month after a Holyrood bill intended to prevent under-18s from being sent to prison became law.
Jonathan Beadle, 17, died at Polmont young offender institution near Falkirk on Saturday, the Scottish Prison Service confirmed. It is believed that he took his own life. It is understood he had been convicted of offences including breach of the peace and had previously been held at a secure care unit.
His death comes five years after a significant review of mental health services for young people in custody was conducted after a succession of high-profile suicides, and as children’s rights campaigners claimed the Scottish government had been repeatedly warned that continuing to imprison children put lives at risk.
This year a fatal accident inquiry was held into the deaths of Katie Allan, 20, and William Lindsey, 16, who were able to take their own lives at Polmont in 2018 despite staff having been alerted to their specific vulnerabilities.
A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “Every death, whether in prison custody or in our communities, is a tragedy for all those who knew and supported the individual. Following the death of someone in our care, Police Scotland are advised, and the matter reported to the procurator fiscal.”
A fatal accident inquiry is mandatory for any death in custody, although the families of those who have died in such circumstances regularly complain about the length of time it takes for these investigations to be held.
Katie Allan’s family, who have since conducted their own analysis of deaths in custody, believe these inquiries are “set up to fail” and incapable of holding the prison service to account for Scotland’s rates of death in custody, particularly among younger inmates.
Nicola Killean, the children and young people’s commissioner for Scotland, said the latest death was a tragedy. “Our thoughts go to their family and everyone who knew, and cared for them. Prison is no place for a child,” she said.
She added that Jonathan’s case “reinforces the urgency” of implementing the children (care and justice) (Scotland) bill, which sets out that children under the age of 18 will no longer be sent to prison, and which received royal assent last month.
Killean’s predecessor Bruce Adamson went further, saying: “Earlier this year, after years of campaigning, the Scottish parliament passed a law to prevent this. It should have been commenced immediately. The Scottish government was repeatedly warned that continuing this practice breached children’s rights and risked their lives.”
On Tuesday the UN convention on the rights of the child (UNCRC) was incorporated into Scots law, which advocates suggest marked a new chapter in the relationship between young people and the state.
Wendy Sinclair-Gieben, HM chief inspector of prisons, Scotland, said that while Polmont had few children in custody and Scotland “should be proud of its record in reducing the number of children in custody”, the death of a child was “unimaginably agonising”.
“This death in prison is particularly poignant since the children care and justice bill was passed earlier this year and Scotland embraced the UNCRC, all of which says children should no longer be held in a prison but held securely when necessary in secure care.”
Sinclair-Gieben pointed out that substantial evidence suggested young people had greater capacity for rehabilitation. “Public safety would be better achieved through placing young people in Scotland’s secure providers who are better placed to deliver this in a therapeutic environment,” she said.
Siobhian Brown, the Scottish minister for victims and community safety, said the government was working with the Scottish Prison Service to end the placement of under-18s in young offender institutions and secure accommodation providers to commence the new act’s provisions shortly.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
