‘There is a gap where Alex should be’: the young woman who lost her life in a neglectful prison system | Prisons and probation

“There’s a gap or space where Alex needs to be,” Stacie Davies said. “Wherever I am, he is not there.”

Her daughter Alex Davies, just 25, was found dead in her isolation cell at Styal prison in Cheshire on Christmas Eve last year.

He was sent to prison after admitting crimes including criminal damage and possession of a knife, which he committed during a mental health crisis.

The expectation was that Alex would receive a hospital order when he was sentenced, and four separate psychiatrists had recommended he be transferred to hospital before sentencing. If the move had been completed within the recommended 28 days, he would have left Styal by 23 December.

Alex had been diagnosed with severe borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from sexual abuse, and had struggled with his mental health for much of his life.

She was outgoing and confident as a young child, but disclosed that she was sexually abused when she was around three years old. Stacie said: “From that day on Alex was very unwell for the rest of his life.”

Despite his difficulties in life, Alex was kind, generous and funny. He was close to his four siblings and so loved in his hometown of Liverpool that at his funeral Stacie said: “We had to open the back doors so everyone could get in, 13 cars were following the hearse, I was stunned, I couldn’t believe it.”

Growing up, Alex was also an incredibly talented football player who could have gone on to have a professional career. “We noticed he could play football,” said his father, Alan Gerrard.

“So we got him into a team called the Fillies and it was the best thing he’s ever done. He found a place, he found something he was good at.”

In memory of former Everton player Leighton Baines: “For a girl she was the best left-back I ever saw, I called her Little Bainsey”.

“He won everything you can win; teams like Man City, Everton were all looking at him,” he added. But “as he got a little older, his mental health deteriorated.”

“Then he started misbehaving in football and eventually it got to the point where he said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore, Dad.'”

Alex, who began self-medicating with marijuana as she entered puberty, continued to struggle with the trauma of sexual abuse and the fact that the perpetrator “got away with it.”

“He would treat us so badly then,” Stacie said. “He was tearing the house apart and then posing a risk to other kids.”

Alex spent time in care, Stacie said, “but for Alex it meant rejection, abandonment, and he didn’t take it well.”

“It immediately spiraled out of control. She was being sexually assaulted, and it escalated really badly.”

Alex had been in and out of mental health hospitals since the age of 14 and was prescribed the antipsychotic clozapine, but stopped taking it in May last year after an abnormal ECG.

Although he initially managed well without medication, his mental health deteriorated rapidly after he reported a sexual assault in August, and in October he was arrested for threatening his psychiatrist and carrying a knife.

Alex was sent to Styal prison, where he was held in a care and separation unit (CSU) (a form of isolation) for 27 days. Alex had a history of suicide attempts and self-harm, and national guidelines state that prisoners at risk of suicide should not be held at CSU unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The jury at the 11-day inquest into Alex’s death at Cheshire Coroner’s Court in Warrington heard that Alex was removed from the integrated mental health team’s (IMHT) caseload following an attack on staff. Concerns were raised about some of the interactions team members had with Alex; This included a nurse telling him he would not take medication for depression and epilepsy “until he gets his shit together.”

The jury heard that Alex looked through the gym windows as he returned to his cell on Christmas Eve and a prison officer told him to “stop being a pervert”.

The inquest heard Alex became angry, ran away and was forcibly restrained before being taken to CSU. Footage shown to the jury of Alex being restrained and taken to the unit showed him repeatedly telling officers he “called me a pervert”. “I don’t want to go to this hell cell,” he shouted and begged staff not to take him there for Christmas.

About five minutes after the cell door was closed, Alex began to harm himself. While under the supervision of male prison officers, clothing and bedding were removed from her cell until she was left wearing only a pair of boxer shorts.

“What was worse was that they knew that one of her main triggers was men and that men were undressing my little girl and looking through her window,” Gerrard said.

Despite his persistent attempts to bind himself and harm himself, Alex was not kept under constant surveillance. The investigation found negligence contributed to his death; This is an extremely rare outcome that is only available in cases where there has been a major failure to provide basic medical care and this has led to a person’s death.

Gerrard said: “It is disgusting that a man should die from neglect in a 21st century prison.” “Something needs to be done now because there are so many young girls and boys dying due to mistreatment.”

“This has nothing to do with the charge,” Stacie said, but the family wants those who failed Alex to be held accountable for his death in the hopes it could prevent others like him from dying.

Stacie said Alex’s death tore her family apart. “I don’t think I’ll ever be right again,” he said. “I’m not well, I can’t fix the situation. I want to do this for my four children, but I can’t.”

“It still doesn’t feel real,” he added. “I don’t even know if it hit me properly yet.

“Christmas Eve, I’m really going to fight,” he said. “Strength will come, but also guilt will come, because he’s not here and I wasn’t there to protect him last year.”

The family were represented by Ciara Bartlam of Garden Court North Chambers’ inquest and public inquiry team, instructed by Nicola Miller, a specialist civil liberties solicitor from Broudie Jackson Canter.

“Alex should never have been sent to a completely inappropriate prison environment where he was mistakenly placed in effective solitary confinement because they didn’t know what else to do with him or how to meet his needs,” Miller said.

“HMP Styal is a women’s prison with a high number of self-inflicted deaths compared to the female prison population. Significant changes must be made to ensure women receive the help and support they need, and lessons must be learned to prevent more young lives being lost.”

A Prison Service spokesman said: “This is an extremely sad and heartbreaking case and it is clear that the care Alex received while at HMP/YOI Styal on the day of his death was far from basic courtesy and respect.”

“Whilst it is right that we await the outcome of the investigations, we would like to offer our deepest condolences and ongoing thoughts to his loved ones.

“The prison has taken a number of urgent measures following Alex’s death and we stand ready to implement the recommendations of the prisons and probation ombudsman when they report back in the coming days.”

A Mersey Care NHS trust spokesperson said: “Whilst we cannot comment on individual patients due to rules covering patient confidentiality, Mersey Care routinely reflects on all our practices, especially after a tragic event such as this. We will continue to monitor our standards of care across our services and as a trust we are committed to providing high quality care to all our patients, service users, carers and their families.”