Inquest Opens Into The Death Of Shane Stroughton The First Of Five Deaths In One Month At Hmp Nottingham In 2017

31 May 2019
Before HM Assistant Coroner for Nottinghamshire, Ivan Cartwright
The Council House, Old Market Square, Nottingham NG1 2DT

Starts 3 June 2019, expected to last 7 days.

29-year-old Shane Stroughton was found hanged in his cell on the induction unit of HMP Nottingham on 13 September 2017. He could not be resuscitated. He had a well-documented history of depression and anxiety. His death was the first of five in a four-week period at the prison.

Following an inspection in January 2018 HMIP took the then unprecedented step to issue an Urgent Notification in relation to HMP Nottingham. HMIP found the prison to be fundamentally unsafe for the third time in a row. They said there was “irrefutable evidence" of a failure to respond to the previous inspection findings and it was "extraordinary" there had not been a more "robust" response.

Shane was jailed for assault aged 19 and given an Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection (IPP). He was released by the parole board on 13 June 2017. He had served in excess of six years over his original tariff. It was his first release on license.

The inquest will hear that on 30 June Shane left his bail hostel after curfew. The following day he handed himself into the police and his licence was revoked and he was sent to HMP Nottingham.

The inquest will consider:

• The prisons suicide and self-harm monitoring under the ACCT procedures
• The actions of the mental health team and healthcare
• The response to the concerns raised by Shane’s family
• Events of 13 September

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

For further information, interview requests and to note your interest, please contact Sarah Uncles or Natasha Thompson on 020 7263 1111 or [email protected] / [email protected].

Shane’s family are represented by INQUEST Lawyers Group members Jo Eggleton from Deighton Pierce Glynn and Nick Armstrong of Matrix Chambers.

The Other interested persons represented are Her Majesty’s Prison Service and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

There were seven deaths at HMP Nottingham from February to October 2017, all but one was self-inflicted. Shane was the first of five deaths in a month.

Also see:

• INQUEST responds to Prison Inspectors report finding ‘tragic and appalling’ levels of self-inflicted deaths and self-harm at Nottingham Prison
• INQUEST responds to inspectors ‘Urgent Notification’ on HMP Nottingham.