Report ‘Distressed’ prisoner took own life

PRISONER took his own life less than 24 hours into a stint at HMP Bristol after prison staff failed to check on him for an hour despite his risk of self-harm, anew report has revealed.

- Angus MCINTYRE

Colin Ryan, 53, was taken to jail on a threatening behaviour charge on January 28, 2023.

When Mr Ryan was booked into the prison at around 3.30pm, the reception staff who admitted him noted he was distressed and threatening to take his own life. “He was struggling to come to terms with being in prison,’ a recently-published report into his death said.

As a result, Mr Ryan was placed under an intensive monitoring schedule - known as Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) - which should have led to him being checked on three times an hour.

The thrice-hourly observations were carried out successfully until 7.43am on January 29, but then they stopped. Mr Ryan was discovered “slumped to the floor” in his cell at around 8.50am, meaning there was a period of around an hour in which he was not checked.

Prison staff and paramedics tried to resuscitate him with CPR but he was pronounced dead at 9.23am.