Scotland’s Prison Covid Death Case Reaches Criminal Court
A private prison operator and a regional health board have admitted criminal charges after the death of a prisoner who contracted Covid-19, marking what is believed to be the first prosecution of its kind in the UK. The case centers on Calum Inglis, 34, who died in HMP Addiewell in October 2021 after testing positive for coronavirus and then deteriorating in custody over the following 12 days.
He was asthmatic, unvaccinated, and serving a short sentence for serious assault. Those clinical and custodial details shaped the risk profile from the start: respiratory disease, an active viral infection, and a closed environment where symptom escalation can move quickly if surveillance fails. Inglis was found dead in his cell at 08:20 on 24 October 2021.
Failures in Observation, Escalation, and Record-Keeping
The court heard that Sodexo, which ran HMP Addiewell on behalf of the Scottish Prison Service, failed to monitor Inglis adequately after his positive test. NHS Lothian, which provided prison healthcare services, failed to put an adequate care plan in place. Both organisations admitted criminal charges of failing to ensure they had met duties under health and safety legislation.
Those admissions point to a breakdown at two separate but interconnected levels of care. In a prison setting, the duty is not limited to reacting when a patient collapses. Staff must identify worsening respiratory symptoms, document requests for treatment, communicate those observations clearly, and ensure that clinical review happens before a patient becomes critically unwell. In this case, family lawyers said Inglis had been reporting breathlessness and coughing up significant amounts of blood, while also repeatedly seeking help through his cell intercom.
He was never seen by an NHS Lothian nurse in the final days of his life.
That absence is stark. A prisoner with asthma, confirmed Covid-19, and escalating respiratory complaints needed prompt clinical reassessment, particularly once blood-streaked sputum and worsening breathlessness entered the picture. The body can decompensate quickly in severe viral illness, and in confinement the margin for missed observation narrows further because the patient cannot self-present to a clinic.
A Family’s Account of Twelve Days Without Care
Inglis’s family described a prolonged and avoidable decline. His mother, Jennifer, said her son deserved compassion, dignity, and proper medical care. She said nothing would bring back her son and that the loss would remain with her for life. His sister, Frances Marr, said the family would continue to seek accountability at a Fatal Accident Inquiry.
Family lawyer Aamer Anwar described Inglis as “caged, terrified and alone,” saying he repeatedly pressed the intercom, screamed for help, and coughed up blood. He said the family believed Inglis was treated worse than an animal and left without dignity or support from prison officers or healthcare staff from the health board. Anwar also said HMP Addiewell was not fit for purpose and called for Sodexo’s contract to be cancelled.
The language is raw, but the underlying issue is clinical: a monitored, documented escalation pathway appears to have failed. When a symptomatic prisoner repeatedly asks for help, the system must treat those requests as actionable clinical data, not background noise. In respiratory infection, delay can convert a potentially survivable illness into a fatal one.
The Clinical Consequences of Missed Deterioration
Fiscal depute Connor Muir told the court that an expert report criticised poor record-keeping around the administration of paracetamol on the prison wing, medication Inglis repeatedly requested. He said that if proper medical care had been provided, Inglis would have had significantly increased chances of surviving.
That assessment is important because it frames the death not as an abstract failure of process but as a missed opportunity for intervention. Even basic supportive care can matter when a patient with Covid-19 and asthma begins to report worsening headache, respiratory distress, or productive coughing with blood. Medical review would have allowed clinicians to assess oxygenation, respiratory rate, airway status, and the need for escalation. Without those checks, deterioration may only become obvious after it is too late.
Inglis had been in contact with his parents throughout his sentence and had apologised for letting them down. His father said the prisoner had been looking forward to release and had secured a job offer. A few days before his death, a nurse had increased his inhaler dose to control his asthma, suggesting there was already some recognition of respiratory vulnerability. The case then moved rapidly from a medication adjustment to a fatal outcome inside the cell.
Rare Prosecution, Broader Questions for Custodial Healthcare
The Crown Office is understood to have investigated about 6,000 pandemic-related deaths before bringing this prosecution. Inglis was one of 16 Covid-related deaths in Scotland’s prisons during the pandemic, and his case is being treated as a landmark because it reaches beyond individual complaint into criminal accountability for institutional failure.
Sheriff Julius Komorowski expressed condolences to the family and said Inglis had died in awful circumstances. He added that the death must seem senseless. Sentencing is due on 17 December.
NHS Lothian’s medical director, Dr Tracey Gillies, issued an unreserved apology to the family for the failings in Inglis’s care. She said the health board had reviewed the death and implemented robust actions for both NHS Lothian and Scottish Prison Service staff to improve patient safety and care, including welfare checks and associated procedures.
Those changes may reduce future risk, but they do not answer the central clinical question raised by this case: how could a prisoner with known asthma, confirmed Covid-19, and repeated pleas for help remain unseen by a nurse until death? The answer will matter not only for sentencing, but for every prison healthcare system that relies on rapid recognition of deterioration, accurate documentation, and a functioning chain of escalation.