Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share 'Addiewell sentenced my son to death': Grieving mother speaks out over 'neglect' by Scotland's private prison
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
'Addiewell sentenced my son to death': Grieving mother speaks out over 'neglect' by Scotland's private prison
A grieving family is planning to sue Addiewell - Scotland's only private prison - for negligence after their beloved son and brother died alone in his cell at just 22-years old while waiting for mental health support.
Jordan Burns made multiple suicide attempts in the ten months he spent on remand in Addiewell facing charges of assault.
While inside, Jordan's attempts on his own life included trying to jump from a landing and setting fire to his cell. He had several drug overdoses and had to be resuscitated twice.
In one harrowing incident just weeks before his death he took a razor blade to his throat and called his then-solicitor, threatening to kill himself. He told the lawyer he had been waiting for mental health support for months.
When he died on 10 November 2023 he had not been given medication for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) previously prescribed, or been treated for his mental health issues.
His mother, Janice Burns, says the prison - which is partly owned and run by private company Sodexo - "served a death sentence" on her son. An additional 67 per cent of the private jail is owned by Infrastructure Investment Holdings, an arm of London investment firm, HICL Infrastructure.
With the support of human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar, Janice is planning to take legal action against the prison.
Politicians including the local SNP MSP called for the Scottish Government to investigate the facts surrounding his death and campaigners said the mandatory fatal accident inquiry into Jordan's death, caused by a drug overdose, must be held urgently.
Sodexo said their thoughts were with the family. Lothian and Borders NHS, which provides healthcare in the prison, claimed that it was "committed to ensuring all prisoners have access to timely mental health services".
Last year there were a record 64 deaths in Scottish prisons with the average age of those who died being just 49. Jordan was one of 40 people who died in jail in 2023.
"His cries for help were ignored," Janice said. "They took my boy's life before it had even started. He was sent to Addiewell on remand, was there for almost a year and when he came home to me it was in a box.
"This has happened to too many people. I just want to help change things so no other young boy or family has to go through this."
She asked not to be identified in the picture we took to protect her younger children. But she wanted to share the pictures of Jordan that fill her home - a beaming little boy in his over-sized, first school uniform, a more pensive young man hugging the family dog. In one of his mother's favourites his arm is around his youngest brother, still just six.
Burns admits her son was no angel and had troubled teenage years which led to a criminal record. "But he was loving and funny and smart", she told us and adored by his siblings and friends.
Results from the post mortem concluded he died of a drug overdose but it cannot answer Janice's question about her son's intentions that night. She is certain of two things though. "My son didn't deserve to die," she said. "And his death was preventable.
Janice and her lawyer claim Jordan had previously been on the prison "Talk to Me" suicide prevention strategy but he was not on the programme when he died.
"I feel like someone has ripped my heart out," she added. "Someone there could have helped him. But nobody did. Instead he was punished." Nobody in authority called to tell her what was happening, she claims.
After Jordan died she says prison officers came to her home to give her the news - delivered in front of her other children. But they stayed just 15 minutes and couldn't tell her what happened.
When Janice phoned the prison she claims she was told she couldn't see what officers referred to as "the body" until Jordan was in the mortuary. But she was given the wrong details for the morgue, which left her calling others to find him without success. She only managed to view J...
View all episodes
A grieving family is planning to sue Addiewell - Scotland's only private prison - for negligence after their beloved son and brother died alone in his cell at just 22-years old while waiting for mental health support.
Jordan Burns made multiple suicide attempts in the ten months he spent on remand in Addiewell facing charges of assault.
While inside, Jordan's attempts on his own life included trying to jump from a landing and setting fire to his cell. He had several drug overdoses and had to be resuscitated twice.
In one harrowing incident just weeks before his death he took a razor blade to his throat and called his then-solicitor, threatening to kill himself. He told the lawyer he had been waiting for mental health support for months.
When he died on 10 November 2023 he had not been given medication for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) previously prescribed, or been treated for his mental health issues.
His mother, Janice Burns, says the prison - which is partly owned and run by private company Sodexo - "served a death sentence" on her son. An additional 67 per cent of the private jail is owned by Infrastructure Investment Holdings, an arm of London investment firm, HICL Infrastructure.
With the support of human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar, Janice is planning to take legal action against the prison.
Politicians including the local SNP MSP called for the Scottish Government to investigate the facts surrounding his death and campaigners said the mandatory fatal accident inquiry into Jordan's death, caused by a drug overdose, must be held urgently.
Sodexo said their thoughts were with the family. Lothian and Borders NHS, which provides healthcare in the prison, claimed that it was "committed to ensuring all prisoners have access to timely mental health services".
Last year there were a record 64 deaths in Scottish prisons with the average age of those who died being just 49. Jordan was one of 40 people who died in jail in 2023.
"His cries for help were ignored," Janice said. "They took my boy's life before it had even started. He was sent to Addiewell on remand, was there for almost a year and when he came home to me it was in a box.
"This has happened to too many people. I just want to help change things so no other young boy or family has to go through this."
She asked not to be identified in the picture we took to protect her younger children. But she wanted to share the pictures of Jordan that fill her home - a beaming little boy in his over-sized, first school uniform, a more pensive young man hugging the family dog. In one of his mother's favourites his arm is around his youngest brother, still just six.
Burns admits her son was no angel and had troubled teenage years which led to a criminal record. "But he was loving and funny and smart", she told us and adored by his siblings and friends.
Results from the post mortem concluded he died of a drug overdose but it cannot answer Janice's question about her son's intentions that night. She is certain of two things though. "My son didn't deserve to die," she said. "And his death was preventable.
Janice and her lawyer claim Jordan had previously been on the prison "Talk to Me" suicide prevention strategy but he was not on the programme when he died.
"I feel like someone has ripped my heart out," she added. "Someone there could have helped him. But nobody did. Instead he was punished." Nobody in authority called to tell her what was happening, she claims.
After Jordan died she says prison officers came to her home to give her the news - delivered in front of her other children. But they stayed just 15 minutes and couldn't tell her what happened.
When Janice phoned the prison she claims she was told she couldn't see what officers referred to as "the body" until Jordan was in the mortuary. But she was given the wrong details for the morgue, which left her calling others to find him without success. She only managed to view J...