SHERIFFDOM OF TAYSIDE CENTRAL AND FIFE at Perth
Court ref: PER-B265-23
NOTICE
UNDER THE INQUIRIES INTO FATAL ACCIDENTS AND SUDDEN DEATHS ETC. (SCOTLAND) ACT 2016
IN THE
INQUIRY INTO THE DEATH OF REESE FAIRGRIEVE

Court ref: PER-B265-23

1.    The determination of the sheriff in this inquiry was issued on 14th May 2026

The sheriff made the following recommendations:

(i)    In terms of section 26(4)(b) and (d) of the Act, SPS should revise their national and refresher training in relation to locking / unlocking and numbers checks procedures to ensure that it accords with the realities of conducting such checks. To be effective, this training should be developed with sufficient input from operational staff, specifically governors, frontline managers and residential officers, and should reflect what is required of officers and what they are likely to encounter in the various cell types within the prison estate. Such national training should only be implemented once it has been approved at a prison governors meeting chaired by the Operations Director of SPS.
(ii)    In terms of section 26(4)(d) of the Act, SPS training, policy and guidance materials in relation to locking / unlocking and residential numbers checks should be amended so that they are unambiguous and consistent with each other in relation to what is required of officers during these checks. Greater emphasis should be placed on the welfare aspect of the cell checks and the heightened risk of prisoner death in the event of non-compliance.
(iii)    In terms of section 26(4)(b) and (d) of the Act, Prison Officers should be required to keep a contemporaneous documentary record of each cell check. The flatboard which is currently available and updated for each check, and which informs as to which prisoner is in which cell, should be revised to include a thumbnail image of each prisoner along with space to record which officers conducted the check, that the presence and identity of each prisoner within each cell has been confirmed and that a verbal response sufficient to ascertain the welfare of each prisoner has been received.
(iv)    In terms of section 26(4)(b) and (d) of the Act, Further provision should be made for compulsory ongoing refresher training at regular intervals to ensure that officers remain fully cognisant of the policies in place and the necessity of strictly adhering to the cell check procedures to ensure prisoner safety.
(v)    In terms of section 26(4)(b) and (d) of the Act, All such training should be centrally recorded and only such officers as have received the appropriate training and are aware of the SPS policies in relation to cell checks should be appointed to the role of residential officer.
(vi)    In terms of section 26(4)(b) and (d) of the Act, Where CCTV is available it should be reviewed at specified intervals by governors or other senior officials to ensure the cell checks are being implemented in the manner prescribed. This is necessary to mitigate against the occurrence of further deaths in custody. In the event of non-compliance, the offending officers should be debriefed, sanctions imposed if necessary and corrective training required.

2.    The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has not received a response from Scottish Prison Service within the time limit prescribed in the Act (being the period of 8 weeks beginning with the day on which the respondent received a copy of the determination in which the recommendation was made).