'Prisoners shouldn't be leaving jail in body bags'

A woman whose fiance died in prison has criticised management and staff for failing to make enough changes to stop other inmates dying.

Kane Boyce was 41 when he was found dead in his cell at HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire on 3 October 2021.

In February, an inquest heard there were repeated failures at the Category B jail over the deaths of three other men in March 2023, while a report issued this month noted 10 inmates died in custody there between August 2023 and March this year.

Kate Woodhead said: "We don't have a death sentence, and people shouldn't be coming out of jail in body bags."

Ms Woodhead, who lives in Nottinghamshire, said she first met Boyce when they were working in London in their 20s and reconnected years later when they were both in prison after he saw her writing in a magazine for prisoners.

Boyce had been jailed in 2015 after being found guilty of the murder of his former girlfriend, and was told to serve a minimum term of 20 years.

He arrived at Lowdham Grange in 2018, and Ms Woodhead said conditions began to deteriorate before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

On the day Boyce died, he had been reported as being seen under the influence of alcohol by staff, who were supposed to carry out checks on him had they followed prison policy.

An inquest found he did not mean to kill himself, with a jury concluding staff "failed to adequately share information about [his] intoxication with colleagues" and that staff "isolated the electricity supply to the sockets inside his cell" without authorisation.

The coroner issued a prevention of future death report after the inquest, raising concerns over staff "deliberately ignoring cell bells", not following prison policy and an "apparent absence of a culture of candour".

"The policies that were in place weren't followed, [and] some of the policies that should have been in place weren't in place," said Ms Woodhead.

The management of Lowdham Grange changed in February 2023, with Serco handing over the running of the jail to Sodexo in the first transfer of prisons between private providers.

Less than six weeks later, three prisoners - Anthony Binfield, David Richards and Rolandas Karbauskas - were found hanging in their cells.

A joint inquest into their deaths began hearing evidence in November last year, and a jury pointed to a series of missed opportunities, with two more prevention of future death reports issued afterwards.

Earlier this month, a new report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons found critical and ongoing failures in safety at the jail.

Ms Woodhead said the recurring issues showed an inability by prison managers and staff to learn from previous mistakes and keep prisoners safe.

"When Kane's verdict came in, I was full of hope that we'd been heard, that things would change, and that other families wouldn't have to go [through] what we've gone through, but things haven't changed, because the same mistakes are being made," she said.

"The staff weren't filling in the forms properly, they weren't doing their handovers, the communication was diabolical, to the detriment of these three, and more that haven't come to [coroner's] court."

She told the BBC that, at the time of Boyce's death, an appeal against his sentence was "going through".

"He had everything to live for," Ms Woodhead added.

"We were going to be married, we'd planned our futures together - we'd planned everything."

Ben Leapman, editor of Inside Time magazine, which is distributed to prisons, said the failures of Lowdham Grange in Boyce's case "raises concerns about the culture among staff at some prisons of declining to follow rules".

He said other incidents at the jail "suggest that there is a bullying culture among officers at the prison which hasn't been tackled over time", and warned that problems around the handover of Lowdham before the deaths of Binfield, Richards and Karbauskas could be repeated.

"The handover from Serco to Sodexo at Lowdham Grange was the first time a UK prison had been handed over from one private operator to another, and it clearly proved disastrous," he said.

"Serco chose to strip out staff and hand the prison over to Sodexo in a dangerous state.

"Sodexo chose not to spend the extra money it would have needed to spend to make the prison safe.

"The MoJ had oversight of the process but seemed unable or unwilling to intervene."

Regarding failures over Boyce's death, Serco said: "Any death in custody is a tragedy and Serco remains committed to ensuring the safety of prisoners in our care.

"Following the conclusion of the recent inquest into three deaths which occurred at Lowdham Grange after our handover, Serco has issued a response to the coroner in relation to the concerns raised."

A spokesperson for Sodexo said Lowdham Grange was "a prison with a unique set of challenges, both old and new" when it took over the site in February 2023.

They added: "We worked tirelessly and very closely with HM Prison and Probation Service at the time to seek to improve stability and deliver the significant improvements expected."

Although Sodexo no longer runs Lowdham Grange, the spokesperson said it had "fully taken on board any learnings to continuously improve the safety and security of those who live and work at our prisons".

The prison is now run by the MoJ, which took over management in December 2023 on a temporary basis before making it a permanent move in May last year.

A spokesman said the department had "implemented numerous measures to improve safety and support at HMP Lowdham Grange, including increased staffing and enhanced training for our officers".

While it comes too late for Boyce, Ms Woodhead said: "I understand that the general public aren't particularly interested in what goes on behind prison walls, but as a civilised society we all want the streets to be free of crime, and we want people to come out of prison rehabilitated."

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, you can visit the BBC Action Line.