Jail and health board admit criminal charges over Covid death prisoner

A company which runs a private prison and a health board has admitted criminal charges following the death of a prisoner who contracted Covid-19.

The case is believed to be the first prosecution of its kind in the UK and comes after the Crown Office investigated about 6,000 deaths related to the pandemic.

Calum Inglis, 34, from Edinburgh, was serving a short sentence in HMP Addiewell, West Lothian, for serious assault when he tested positive for coronovirus on 12 October 2021.

Inglis, who was asthmatic and unvaccinated, was found dead in his cell 12 days later.

The prison was run by Sodexo on behalf of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and was covered by NHS Lothian.

Before his death on 24 October, Inglis was not seen by an NHS Lothian nurse, and reported being breathless and coughing up significant amounts of blood, lawyers for his family claimed.

It is alleged that in the last four days of his life, he repeatedly requested medical attention via his cell intercom, to be promised by the prison officers that someone would see him in the morning - but no-one came.

His family's solicitor Aamer Anwar previously described his death, on 24 October 2021, as "agonising".

Last year, the then Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC instructed the prosecution of the private prison operator of HMP Addiewell in relation to the case.

On Friday, Sodexo and Lothian Health Board admitted criminal charges of failing to ensure they had adhered to their duties under health and safety legislation.

The case was heard at Edinburgh Sheriff Court before Sheriff Julius Komorowski.

Inglis' father Alan previously told BBC Scotland News he had learned about his son's death through word of mouth from inside the prison.

In March 2024 a senior SPS director apologised to Inglis' family.

A couple of days earlier a nurse had increased the dose of his inhaler to control his asthma.

He began experiencing severe headaches and a few days later told his family his breathing was becoming more difficult.

Alan said that four days before his death, Inglis started to cough up blood.

He previously told BBC Scotland News: "Both his mum and I were saying, surely you're going to get help?

"He said: 'I've been pressing my buzzer, I've been crying out for help. I've been told someone will see you in the morning but no-one's coming. All I'm being offered is paracetamol. They're telling me: 'You've only got Covid'."

Alan Inglis described his son's death as "100% neglect" and believes that he could still be alive if he had been out in the community.