Three women died on first day in prison within a year

A distraught mother has become the third woman to die on her first day in a Cheshire prison in a year, a new report from the Prison Ombudsman has revealed.

Christine McDonald, 56, who was jailed for 12 weeks for shoplifting, was in drug withdrawal when she committed suicide at HMP Styal on March 2, 2019.

She was also “beside herself” after seeing her adult daughter, Kristy, fall from a third-floor window when the pair were arrested in Blackpool the day before. An earlier investigation concluded that “neglect” by prison staff had contributed to her suicide.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) told the BBC that staff training on suicide and self-harm had “improved”.

A fatal incident report written and published this week by the then Prison and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), Sue McAllister CB, noted that Ms McDonald was the third prisoner to die at Styal’s first night centre since February 2018.

The PPO investigation found that Ms McDonald had been very concerned about her daughter since her arrival at 18:30 GMT on 1 March 2019. She was still unaware when she was fatally injured the following night.

The report states: “We are concerned that staff are not paying sufficient attention to this.”

Ms McAllister was also concerned that, apart from a nurse dispensing medication, there was “no health care provider present” at the centre.

Prison staff at the centre had no specific training in dealing with drug withdrawal and failed to adequately consider Ms McDonald’s risk factors, she said.

Mrs McDonald was also annoyed that she was unable to provide a urine sample, and therefore, according to health care guidelines, she could not be prescribed methadone to help with her withdrawal symptoms.

Other inmates told the PPO they had heard Ms McDonald screaming, making comments about suicide and expressing concern for her daughter, but said staff responded “dismissively”.

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On the evening of March 2, a senior prison officer discovered her daughter was in a serious but stable condition, but he did not pass on the message until two hours and forty minutes later.

When he arrived at her cell at 11:07 p.m., he found Mrs. McDonald seriously injured.

She was taken to hospital but died the next day.

The officer told the PPO that he had given the message a ‘priority’ rating but that he had been called to another section of the prison and had not been informed of Ms McDonald’s distress.

Mrs McAllister wrote: “It should have been obvious that Mrs McDonald would have been very concerned about her child.”

Another of Mrs McDonald’s daughters, Cheri McDonald, told the investigating judge in May that her mother was “totally crazy because she didn’t know what had happened to Kristy”.

She said her mother was “a kind-hearted person who would do anything for anyone,” despite her struggles.

After the hearing, she told the BBC: “I have always believed that all the failings recognised today contributed to her death.

“It’s very important to hear that out loud and record it.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Our thoughts are with the friends and family of Christine McDonald.

“We are recruiting more specialists to better support women in detention with complex needs. Staff training on suicide and self-harm has also been improved.”