HandoutA distressed mother was the third woman to die during their first day at a Cheshire prison in the space of a year, a new report by the prisons ombudsman has revealed.
Christine McDonald, 56, who had received a 12-week sentence for shoplifting, was withdrawing from drugs when she took her own life at HMP Styal on 2 March 2019.
She had also been “beside herself” after seeing her adult daughter, Kristy, fall from a third-storey window as the pair were arrested in Blackpool the previous day. An inquest previously concluded “neglect” by prison staff had contributed to her suicide.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) told the BBC staff training on suicide and self-harm had “been improved”.
A fatal incident report by the then prisons and probation ombudsman (PPO), Sue McAllister CB, written and published this week, noted that Ms McDonald had been the third inmate staying at Styal’s first-night centre to die since February 2018.
The PPO investigation heard that Ms McDonald had been extremely worried about her daughter since arriving at 18:30 GMT on 1 March 2019, and had still not been updated by the time she suffered fatal injuries the following night.
The report said: “We are concerned that staff paid insufficient attention to this.”
Ms McAllister also expressed concerns that apart from a nurse dispensing medication, there had been “no healthcare presence” at the centre.
Prison officers staffing the centre had no specialist training in managing drug withdrawal and did not consider Ms McDonald’s risk factors appropriately, she said.
Ms McDonald had also been annoyed because she was unable to pass urine for a sample, which meant that, according to healthcare guidance, she could not be prescribed methadone to ease her drug withdrawal symptoms.
Other prisoners told the PPO they had heard Ms McDonald screaming, making comments about killing herself and expressing concern for her daughter, but said staff had been “dismissive”.
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On the evening of 2 March, a senior prison officer found out that her daughter was in a serious but stable condition, but did not pass the message on for two hours and 40 minutes.
When he arrived at her cell at 23:07, he found Ms McDonald with critical injuries.
She was taken to hospital but died the following day.
The officer told the PPO he had “prioritised” passing that message on but had been called to another area of the prison, and had also not been told of Ms McDonald’s distress.
Ms McAllister wrote: “It should have been obvious that Ms McDonald would be very anxious about her child.”
Another of Ms McDonald’s daughters, Cheri McDonald, told an inquest jury in May that her mother had been “beside herself not knowing what had happened to Kristy”.
She said her mother had been “a kind-hearted person who would do anything for anyone”, despite her issues.
Speaking after the hearing, she told the BBC: “All the failings that were acknowledged today I have always believed contributed to her death.
“To hear that out loud and have that on record is really important.”
A spokesperson for the MoJ said: “Our thoughts remain with the friends and family of Christine McDonald.
“We are recruiting more specialists to better support women in custody with complex needs and staff training on suicide and self-harm has been improved.”