Anthony McCarthy passed away after ingesting a cocktail of three drugs, including cocaine and flubromazolam, within his cell at HMP Kilmarnock.
The 29-year-old Paisley man’s mum Agnes McGuire told a Fatal Accident Inquiry that she believed keeping the number of daily, random cell searches at 12 instead of nine might have saved his life.
The court hearing, which had its findings published this week, was held in a bid to ascertain if anything could be put in place to stop a similar incident occurring in the future.
Sheriff Colin Bissett was told how the tragedy unfolded on the morning of September 28, 2020 – but said that he did not believe actioning the 25 per cent reduction in visits to prisoners’ cells would have prevented Mr McCarthy’s death.
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In his determination, he said: “Mr McCarthy died in consequence of his ingesting three different illegal drugs within his prison cell, demonstrates the scale of the challenge faced by prison authorities to prevent such substances entering and circulating within the prison estate.
“They do so because of determined, ever more inventive attempts to circumvent prison security, in which attempts prisoners such as Mr McCarthy actively collude. In the submissions made on behalf of Mr McCarthy’s mother, Agnes McGuire, it is suggested that keeping the number of daily, random cell searches at 12 instead of nine is a precaution which could reasonably have been taken and might realistically avoided the death occurring.”
He added: “On the evidence before me, I do not accept that this precaution could reasonably have been taken, as it would have been contrary to the SPS policy introduced in 2020 to combat the spread of coronavirus. Any assessment of that policy is beyond the remit of this inquiry.”
The lawman said in his opinion, there was no evidence to support the grieving mum’s belief.
He added: “There is no evidence before me that the reduction of the number of daily, random cell searches had an adverse impact upon the detection of drugs or drug use within the prison generally. Nor can I speculate that it prevented detection of the drugs in Mr McCarthy’s possession at the time of his death.
“At best, it lengthened the odds of his cell being the subject of a random search sometime before he died. The line of argument advanced on behalf of Ms McGuire seems entirely speculative.”
The inquiry also heard argument from Mr McCarthy’s legal representatives that the failure by the prison staff to properly monitor CCTV within the prison to observe the transaction between Mr McCarthy and another prisoner for the drugs that killed him had played a part.
This was also thrown out by the sheriff, as was the suggestion that more could have been done by the prison authorities to halt the flow of illegal substances into the jail.
He said: “Without a specific reason to follow Mr McCarthy’s movements via CCTV that evening, it is hardly a defect in the system that neither operator observed the incident while monitoring the feeds from some 300 cameras.
“Significant time, care and expense continues to be spent by the prison 24 authorities to prevent the entry of illegal drugs. They are doing all that might reasonably be done, given finite resources, the need to respect the human rights of prisoners and visitors to the prison estate and the widespread availability of these substances in society generally.”
Sheriff Bissett went on to say that he did not believe any formal recommendations should be made as a result of the FAI.
