Before William was sent to prison he had an operation on his back and had a steel rod placed in his spine. After this operation he was told that he would be prescribed strong painkillers for the rest of his life. Prior to his imprisonment and for 4 years after the operation William was prescribed Diconal and Valium. Then last year the doctor at HMP Glenochil stopped all his painkillers, which meant that Mr Johnston was in a state of constant agony. After complaining through all the usual prison avenues and being completely ignored he decided the only option he had left to try to get the issue of his medical neglect addressed was to go on a hunger strike. He started this on the 3rd September and only ended it after 60 days because people on the outside of the prison had gotten to hear about his situation and had started writing letters of complaint on his behalf.

After his previous hunger strike William was prescribed Tramodol and high strength Co-codamol by the prison doctor who, about a week after William ended his hunger strike, stopped working at Glenochil prison. Before leaving, he called William to see him. He apologised to William for the victimisation he had suffered at the hands of the medical department there and said he would now get the treatment he needed – which suggests that he had been under pressure from the prison staff at Glenochil prison to not treat William.

The new doctor at HMP Glenochil has since taken William off the Tramodol and reduced him to low strength Co-codomol. William started a new hunger strike in protest over that decision and has now not eaten for over 35 days. On his last hunger strike he went down to 38kg in weight and his body is still weakened from that hunger strike. He is now already back down to 41kg, remains very weak and collapsed at the end of last week. Other prisoners at Glenochil fear that he is close to death and there is not much time left for intervention in a situation where the Prison Governor and the Scottish Prison Service Headquarters are ignoring his condition and letting him starve himself to death, rather than be seen to “give in” and prescribe him appropriate painkillers (the doctor there recently told him that she would not be blackmailed).

We have heard that there is another prisoner in HMP Glenochil that is also on hunger strike about the neglect of his medical condition. A couple of weeks ago there was a third person on hunger strike but this man had been in the army and prescribed pain killers by an MOD doctor. After his Army doctor contacted the prison they resumed his medication. The reason for the poor standard of healthcare at the prison is down to the fact that, unlike the English system, the Scottish prison medical services are run by the Prison Service itself and not the NHS. The Scottish Prison Service has been implementing major cost-cutting measures, leading to prisoners having their treatment and medication stopped.

Please write letters of complaint or phone the prison to ask about William's condition and demand that he gets the proper medical treatment that a prison has a duty of care to provide:

Governor Dan Gunn
HMP Glenochil
King O'Muir Road
Tullibody
Clackmannanshire
FK10 3AD
Tel: (01259) 760471
Fax: (01259) 762003
 dan.gunn@sps.pnn.gov.uk

Write to Dr Andrew Fraser who is responsible for the prison health care service at the Scottish Prison Service Headquarters:

Dr A. Fraser
Medical Officer
SPS Headquarters
Calton House
5 Redheughs Rigg
Edindurgh
EH12 9HW

Write to the local MP for Glenochil and ask him to conduct an urgent investigation to the healthcare at the prison:

Gordon Banks MP
The Constituency Office
49-51 High Street, Alloa
Clackmannanshire
FK10 1JF

Please send letters and cards of support to:

William Johnston #50541
HMP Glenochil
King O'Muir Road
Tullibody
Clackmannanshire
FK10 3AD