‘Katie was too scared in prison to keep living’

Brother of a young woman who took her own life while in a young person’s prison says the justice system killed her.

Katie Allan was found dead in her cell at Polmont Young Offenders Institution on 4 June 2018.

She had been sent there in March after being sentenced to 16 months for drink-driving.

She is one of three deaths in custody at the center being investigated by a fatality inquest.

The decision on the joint inquest into Katie’s death and that of 16-year-old William Brown will be announced on Friday, with the results of the inquest into 20-year-old Jack McKenzie’s suicide in 2021 published at a later date.

Scott Allan, her only sibling, is 21, the age Katie was when she decided she couldn’t take it anymore and ended her life.

He told BBC Scotland News: “I don’t believe my sister made the decision to take her own life.

“I think she was too scared to keep living.”