Peterborough prisoner took own life while waiting to be deported

Marek Witulski was a Polish national and was due to be deported to Poland at the beginning of April 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Home Office was unable to book flights until June, and then the flights were repeatedly cancelled. As a result, Mr Witulski remained in prison.

He died on July 9 2020, aged 50.

Elizabeth Moody, Deputy Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, described the death as ‘a disturbing case’ in a new report – and made a number of recommendations to HMP Peterborough following the death.

Jailed for causing death by careless driving

The report said that Mr Witulski was sentenced to eight months in prison for causing death by careless driving in January 2020, and was sent to the city jail.

On 2 April, the Home Office served Mr Witulski with a deportation order. Mr Witulski waived his right of appeal and agreed to return to Poland. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Home Office was unable to arrange flights to Poland. Mr Witulski was due to be released from prison on 23 May (halfway through his sentence) but instead he continued to be detained at Peterborough under immigration powers pending his deportation to Poland.

On 22 May, Mr Witulski’s son and the Polish Embassy contacted the prison with concerns about Mr Witulski’s continued detention and the effect on his mental health. A safer custody manager told the Polish Embassy that prison staff would refer Mr Witulski to the mental health team. This did not happen.

Attempts were made to deport Mr Witulski to Poland on 1, 16, 20 and 25 June, but the flights were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A further flight was booked for 5 July and Mr Witulski’s family were expecting him to return home, but this flight was also cancelled.

At around 3.25pm on 6 July, Mr Witulski’s cellmate returned from the exercise yard to find Mr Witulski unconscious in the cell.

He died three days later.

Interactions with staff and other inmates ‘restricted’

The report said that Mr Witulski was detained for around three months after he expected to be deported to Poland. During this time, he spent most of the day in his cell because of the COVID-19 restrictions, and his interactions with staff and other prisoners were further restricted because of his very poor English.

It added that: “There is no evidence that staff had any meaningful interaction with Mr Witulski after 3 March. Although we were told that the prison’s foreign national co-ordinator spoke to him after his flight to Poland was cancelled on 20 June, there is no record of this in Mr Witulski’s prison record.”

Recommendations

In her report, Mrs Moody made a number of recommendations to the HMP Peterborough, including:

The Director should ensure that, where a prisoner’s family expresses concerns about a prisoner’s wellbeing, staff should take immediate action to:

Assess the prisoners needs and make appropriate referrals, as necessary;

Clearly document the concerns and the agreed actions in the prisoner’s record.

And that the Director should ensure that staff carry out a face-to-face welfare check, using the services of an interpreter if necessary, to assess the prisoner’s risk in the event of any delay to their expected release/deportation date; and clearly document the discussion, risk assessment, and actions taken in the prisoner’s NOMIS record.

A spokesperson for HMP Peterborough said: “We understand that this is a difficult time for Mr. Witulski’s family, and our thoughts and condolences remain with them. While many changes and improvements have been made in the prison over the course of the five years since Mr. Witulski’s death, we will consider the jury’s findings and conclusions with great care and continue to build on progress made from the PPO recommendations.”