The Scottish Prison Service has spent seven times more money on solicitor fees in fatal accident inquiries than bereaved families have received in Legal Aid.
The figures were obtained by analysing 32 FAIs into prisoner deaths in the last two years.
Campaigners say Legal Aid must be made available for all families bereaved by state-related deaths.
In the current system, only families who apply and pass financial eligibility tests can have their solicitor fees at FAIs paid by the taxpayer.
Of 32 completed FAIs since the start of 2018, just nine families got help from the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB).
The total cost amounted to £46,000 but the true figure will be higher as three cases couldn’t be traced by SLAB.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) had legal representation at every hearing paid for by the public.
The governing body paid £137,969 to Glasgow-based legal firm Anderson Strathern for its work at the hearings.
A further £184,768 has been billed by the same firm for the “provision of legal advice for FAIs yet to be concluded”.
It brings the total legal bill to £322,737 since the start of last year.
The biggest lawyer cost for the SPS was for legal advice after the death of Daniel McSweeney.
The 54-year-old died in Glenochil jail in 2014 from an accidental heroin overdose.
At an FAI, a sheriff rapped prison bosses for failing to investigate drug crime in the Clackmannanshire jail.
The SPS spent more than £18,195 on representation at the hearing. The NHS and the trade union representing prison officers also had legal representation.
McSweeney’s family got Legal Aid and had a lawyer there but the bill was just £6850.
The suicide of Katie Allan, 21, in Polmont jail, near Falkirk, in June 2018 will be investigated at an FAI. Her family won’t get Legal Aid.
Katie’s mum Linda said: “We’ll have to face legal teams from the SPS, the NHS and the prison officers’ union, funded mainly from the public purse. Yet we will have to fund our own fight, while still grieving.
“Something is wrong.”
Lawyer Aamer Anwar, who represents Katie’s family, said: “Over two decades, I’ve watched the prison service use public money to defend itself in court while trying to silence families who seek the truth.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said a public consultation around a new Legal Aid Bill is ongoing and the Scottish Government will consider entitlement for relatives involved in FAIs.
The SPS said: “We need to be represented at all FAIs and pay solicitors accordingly.”
