Six families whose loved ones have died in prison custody in the last seven years met with the First Minister John Swinney and Justice Minister Angela Constance at Scottish Government headquarters in Edinburgh for more than an hour.
Six grieving families yesterday united to demand answers over the mystery deaths of their loved ones. The families of Allan Marshall, Christopher Masson, Paul Cowan, Conor McHugh and two others met with the First Minister John Swinney and Cabinet Secretary for Justice Angela Constance for an hour at Scottish Government headquarters at St Andrews House in Edinburgh.
The meeting was organised by the UK-wide United Friends and Families and Sharon MacFadyen whose nephew Allan Marshall died in hospital in March 2015 after being in a coma, four days after he was restrained by up to 17 prison officers at HMP Edinburgh. At the meeting the families renewed their call for an end to Fatal Accident Inquiries which they say are not fit for purpose.
They also want the authorities including the prisons and police to take more responsibility for deaths in custody and for their loved ones to finally get answers after years of waiting. Speaking on behalf of the families Sharon said they were encouraged by the response from both the First Minister and the Justice minister at the gathering with another meeting pencilled in for next March.
Sharon added: ”It was very positive and they listened to everything that the individual families had to say. They are going to make us part of a review of the way Fatal Accident Inquiries are carried out.
“The Justice minister Angela Constance said they’d had three meetings already of the review and that she wants us to have an input. We have campaigned for families of people who have died in custody to get Legal Aid so that they can be represented at Fatal Accident Inquiries and Angela Constance told us there were already 22 families who were now entitled to it.
“We also want Fatal Accident Inquiries to start sooner and both the First Minister and the Justice minister agreed. We said that there needed to be more accountability and responsibility by the authorities for deaths in custody and for them to listen to the families.
“We left the meeting optimistic that things will change for the better.” Various legal proceedings are ongoing into Allan’s death which his family are hoping will finally give them answers.
In March 2023, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain ordered a probe into the Scottish Prison Service by Police Scotland to see if there were grounds for a charge of corporate homicide. The family are suing the SPS, Police Scotland and Scottish Ministers for compensation over Allan’s death – believed to be about £200,000.
In 2019 the Daily Record’s sister paper the Sunday Mail revealed CCTV showing the dad of two dragged naked down a segregation unit corridor with a towel over his face, having been injured. Allan, who ran a recycling business in Glasgow, had been on remand for unpaid fines and breach of the peace charges.
He was due to be released when the incident took place. Sheriff Gordon Liddle, who held a Fatal Accident Inquiry, said prison officers had been “mutually dishonest”.
They were given lifelong immunity from prosecution in return for giving evidence, which the Crown Office later admitted should not have happened. At the Court of Session in Edinburgh In September the, SPS admitted a breach of human rights law by unlawfully causing his death.
His family have also received an apology from the prison service, Crown Office and Police Scotland after the Court of Session heard that the level of force went far beyond what was necessary. Another family who attended yesterdays meeting were Karen and Skye Masson, mother and sister of Christopher Masson
Christopher, a former gardener, died in March last year in his cell at HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow serving a nine term for breach of the peace after suffering a seizure. But his family say they have been left in the dark by the prison authorities over what caused him to lose his life.
The 39-year-old, of Pollok in Glasgow, only had 10 days left of his sentence left. Christopher had spoken to Karen an hour before his death and appeared in good health and spirits.
In an interview in the Daily Record in October Skye, a 31-year-old university social work student, said her brother had a long history of mental health problems and should not have been in prison. Yesterday both mother and daughter said they were also happy with the way the meeting went.
Skye added: ”it was very positive. I got a good feeling.” Another relative present was Gail Donaghy whose son Conor McHugh was found dead in his cell at HMP Kilmarnock in September 2020.
Conor who was about to complete a four month sentence for breach of the peace had a history of mental health problems and had previously tried to take his life. Also at the meeting was Sharon Murphy the widow of Paul Cowan who died in hospital from liver cancer in 2018.
He was due for parole in July that year on a 32 month sentence for car theft. Sharon from Bonhill, Dunbartonshire, says he should have been given compassionate release because of his condition but was kept under 24 guard at Glasgow Royal Infirmary only hours before his death.
First Minster John Swinney said: “I am extremely grateful to all the families who met the Justice Secretary and me today so we could hear about their experiences. I fully appreciate their suffering, and I would like to once again express my deepest sympathies and condolences to all families affected by the death of a loved one in custody.
“We are committed to learning from every death in custody and to drive meaningful, lasting improvement across the system. That includes strengthening oversight, improving transparency and accountability, and ensuring that the voices and the experiences of bereaved families help shape that work, alongside wider reforms to how to how deaths in custody are examined and learned from.”
