Corby man died in prison aged just 29

A Corby man tragically took his own life during his first time in prison after he was assessed as needing specialist psychiatric assessment.

Ross Springham died in hospital on March 20, 2021, four days after he was discovered in his cell with a ligature around his neck.

He was just 29.

Now an investigation into his death has said that there were deficiencies in the suicide monitoring process at HMP Wandsworth.

Mr Springham, a much-loved Corby brother, son and father-of-two, was taken into custody after a being charged with indecent exposure in London on February 22. He had never previously been in prison although he had been assessed in hospital the previous month as having paranoia and psychosis.

He told a nurse that he had no thoughts of suicide and said that he had previously been sectioned in 2020. He refused to see a psychiatrist when a doctor told him he needed to be referred.

He was immediately placed on suicide monitoring (known as ACCT) because he was behaving oddly and staff were concerned he had psychosis. He refused to wear clothing and a few days after his incarceration he jumped onto netting of the landing below.

During his time in prison he repeatedly turned-down requests for mental health assessments from prison staff. A psychiatrist who spoke to him raised concerns that prison was not the right place for Mr Springham.

Staff referred him to the in-house specialist 12-bed mental health wing for assessment. After 72-hours his 15-minute observations were reduced to hourly and he was assessed as being a low suicide risk,

On March 15, it was decided he could not attend his court hearing that day and he would be transferred to a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit. But on March 16 he grabbed a member of staff around the neck. Prison officers decided that three members of staff would have to be present if he were to be allowed out of his cell.

A report by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman released earlier this month said that Mr Springham was found later that morning lying on the floor of his cell unresponsive having tied a ligature around his neck.

Staff tried to revive him but he died in St George’s Hospital four days later with his loved-ones around him.

The report said that the hourly monitoring in the build up to his death had been sufficient, but there were some ‘deficiencies’ in the prison’s management of Mr Springham’s ACCT. They found Mr Springham’s first ACCT review was unduly delayed by four days.

They found that his ‘unpredictable’ behaviour should have been seen as a risk factor, even though he had told staff he was not suicidal.

The report said: “(The deficiencies) included not holding an assessment interview within the prescribed timescale, not setting caremap actions designed to keep a prisoner safe, and not involving healthcare staff in all case reviews. We also consider that staff underestimated the risk posed by Mr Springham’s unpredictability.”

The ombudsman made a series of recommendations to help better manage prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm in line with national guidelines.

Mr Springham was the tenth prisoner to die in HMP Wandsworth in two years and the fourth to die at their own hand. Since his death there have been four more suicides at the prison.

The Prisons & Probation Ombudsman investigates all deaths in custody and publicises their results to allow public scrutiny of the incidents and to try to prevent similar incidents in the future by raising understanding and awareness of what happened.

An inquest into Mr Springham’s death, held last month, concluded he died by suicide.

- If you are struggling with your mental health and need someone to talk to, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 around the clock.