A woman who drove 60 miles to Wormwood Scrubs to prevent her husband from taking his own life in prison was unable to alert staff in time because the telephone line and the intercom were both broken, a coroner has ruled.
Isaiah Adekunle Olugosi killed himself in his cell at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in March 2022. A jury found that his death was suicide.
Olugosi’s wife spoke to her husband at about 9pm on 27 March and believed he was suicidal, according to a prevention of future deaths report by Richard Furniss, an assistant coroner for west London.
Olugosi’s wife, Cambridgeshire police and the Metropolitan police were all unable to contact the men’s prison in west London by telephone to warn them because “calls were being diverted to an unmanned or obsolete number”.
Instead, she drove for two hours from Cambridge to Wormwood Scrubs where she banged on the main gate for some time, calling out and pressing a buzzer which promised to connect her to an intercom through which she could speak to prison staff, the hearing was told.
Furniss said in his report that the intercom was out of action and had been “for several years”.
As a result, Olugosi’s wife and police could not contact the prison all night and Olugosi killed himself. Furniss ruled “there is a risk that future deaths will occur” unless the Wormwood Scrubs governor, Amy Frost, takes action.
He said: “The buzzer intercom system must have been provided because it was thought important to provide that additional means of communication between the prison and the outside world.
“In this case, a working system would have enabled the deceased’s wife to warn the prison of his impending suicide.
“It is difficult to understand why the intercom system has not worked for several years.”
Furniss added: “There was evidence that it is irreparable. But the proposed solution appeared to be either to leave it as it is or to remove it altogether. It is a matter of concern that the prison and the Ministry of Justice still considers that it is unnecessary.”
Frost has been asked to respond to Furniss’s report by 21 April with details of measures taken or proposed action to be taken.
In 2014, prison inspectors said spending cuts had reduced Wormwood Scrubs to a filthy, overcrowded and dilapidated state.
Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector of prisons at the time, said his office found that the jail had “declined in almost every aspect”.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We will carefully consider the coroner’s findings and will respond to the report in due course.”
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 counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
