Prosecutors are to investigate the deaths in custody of two teenagers at Scotland’s main young offender institution within four days of each other.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) confirmed on Monday that an 18-year-old named Robert Wagstaff died at Polmont, near Falkirk, on Saturday.
His death came four days after Liam Kerr, 19, died in hospital from injuries he had sustained in a separate incident on Friday 13 January. The families of both men have been informed.
Neither case is believed to be suspicious and they are not thought to be connected. But both will be subject to mandatory fatal accident inquiries (FAI) – the nearest Scottish equivalent to a coroner’s inquest – to establish their cause and any implications for Polmont’s management.
A Crown Office spokesman said prosecutors had received formal reports on both cases and could be subject to a joint FAI after a review by the Scottish fatalities investigation unit.
Liam McArthur, the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ justice spokesman, said: “While it is yet to be established what led to these events, we have previously raised concerns about shortcomings in mental health provision at young offender institutions.
“These deaths must be thoroughly investigated and lessons learnt in order to avoid any such fatalities in the future.”
SPS officials said suicides at Polmont were rare; the last occurred about three years ago.
“One incident is an incident too many,” an SPS spokesman said. “We need to look very carefully at the circumstances [of these cases] and see if there’s anything more we can do.
“We have invested very heavily in anti-self-harm programmes and launched a new programme to tackle self-harm as recently as December. It’s something we take very seriously.”
