WE ARE A MAGAZINE ABOUT LAW AND JUSTICE | AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO
February 17 2025
WE ARE A MAGAZINE ABOUT LAW AND JUSTICE | AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO

Prison staff had no ‘meaningful interaction’ with vulnerable prisoner

Prison staff had no ‘meaningful interaction’ with vulnerable prisoner

HMP Wandsworth, D Wing. Pic: Andy Aitchison

An investigation by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman was ‘very concerned’ that staff at HMP Wandsworth had no ‘meaningful interaction’ with a prisoner prior to his self-inflicted death in 2021.

Przemyslaw Wozniak, facing extradition to Poland, was taken to Wandsworth on 23 December 2019. An initial welfare check concluded that he had no enduring mental health problems, despite telling the nurse he had difficulty sleeping, and was hearing voices saying “hate you”. He later told his key worker during the pandemic that he was ‘depressed’ in the face of his deportation, but this was excluded from the worker’s report.

Mr. Wozniak was only seen by the mental health team on his seventh self-referral, in February 2021. He was visited by a prison GP on who gave him a prescription for sinusitis but failed to ask him about his mood.

Mr. Wozniak was found hanging in his cell five days later, with attending officers raising a general alarm rather than an emergency ‘code blue’. The proper code was not raised for another three minutes, and upon the ambulance’s arrival Mr. Wozniak was unable to be revived.

The report stated: ‘We are very concerned that there is no evidence that staff checked Mr Wozniak’s welfare or had any meaningful interactions with him during the 11 months before his death,’ also noting that ‘the doctor’s failure to ask Mr Wozniak directly about his mood or to actively assess his mood that day did not meet even the most basic of clinical guidance in relation to identifying depression.’

The Ombudsman issued an Action Plan in response to the death, recommending that healthcare staff share information about at-risk prisoners with prison staff, the use of interpretation services with prisoners with limited English, having ‘regular, meaningful conversations’ with prisoners to assess wellbeing, and calling the appropriate medical code in emergencies.

Mr. Wozniak was the fourth prisoner at Wandsworth to commit suicide since 2019. Five further self-inflicted deaths have followed.

HMP Wandsworth’s received a ‘damning report’ last spring, accompanied by the issue of an urgent notification.

Related Posts