A wife’s desperate 60-mile drive to prevent her husband’s suicide proved tragically futile due to faulty communication systems at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, a coroner has found.
Isaiah Adekunle Olugosi took his own life in his cell overnight between March 27 and 28, 2022. A jury later ruled his death a suicide.
Olugosi’s wife had spoken to him by phone around 9pm on March 27, becoming immediately alarmed by his suicidal ideations. She then undertook the urgent journey to the prison, hoping to alert staff to the imminent danger. However, upon arrival, she discovered both the intercom and phone line were out of order, preventing her from raising the alarm.
The coroner’s prevention of future deaths report highlighted this critical failure, which tragically contributed to Olugosi’s death.
She, Cambridgeshire Police and the Metropolitan Police were all unable to contact the prison 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.
Assistant coroner for West London Richard 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 “the deceased took his life”.
Mr Furniss ruled “there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken” by the governor of Wormwood Scrubs, Amy Frost.
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.
“This could happen again in the future if there was another problem with the telephone system during the night state.
“It is difficult to understand why the buzzer/intercom system has not worked for several years. There was evidence that it is irreparable. But the proposed solution appeared to be either to leave it as it is (still not working) or to remove it altogether.
“The jury found that the failure to provide a working buzzer/intercom system was a failure.
“It is a matter of concern that the prison/the Ministry of Justice still considers that it is unnecessary.”
The prison’s governor has been asked to respond to Mr Furniss’s report by April 21 2025 with details of action taken or proposed action to be taken.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We will carefully consider the coroner’s findings and will respond to the report in due course.”
