Wealstun prison criticised for 'very poorly managed' emergency response as prisoner found hanging in cell

Lewis Johnson, 34, was found unresponsive in his cell at HMP Wealstun, shortly after 4.40am on December 12 in 2019. Prison officers took him down but were then called out of the cell before being sent back minutes later to attempt CPR. Paramedics managed to re-establish a pulse, after arriving in the cell at 5.18am, but Mr Johnson died later that day at Leeds General Infirmary.

A recent inquest heard the paramedics had been delayed as the prison’s electronic gate malfunctioned and it had to be opened by hand.

Mr Johnson, who was found to have the psychoactive substance spice in his system, had told family before his death that he was worried and felt “under threat” from other prisoners over drug debts he had.

In a report into his death by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Sue McAllister writes that Mr Johnson had a history of substance abuse and mental health problems upon being sent to the prison in May 2019. In October staff placed him under Prison Service suicide and self-harm prevention procedures (known as ACCT) after he told them that he had made a noose. However, he was not on suicide watch at the time of his death.

In her report, Ms McAllister writes: “Staff managed the ACCT procedures poorly in October. The caremap was inadequate and staff stopped ACCT procedures before all the caremap actions were completed. When Mr Johnson was found under the influence of drugs during the post-closure period, nobody considered reassessing his risk.”

Ms McAllister issued numerous recommendations to the governor of the prison in order to improve the mental health support available to inmates and to ensure that staff are better prepared for emergency situations.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Lewis Johnson. We have implemented all of the Ombudsman’s recommendations and have provided self-harm and suicide prevention training to 25,000 prison officers to help them better support offenders. We also work with the Samaritans to provide peer-to-peer support for prisoners.”