Prisoner found hanged in cell was 'agitated', inquest is told
An “agitated” prisoner was found hanged in his cell
A prisoner at a Lancashire jail who was found hanged in his cell was "agitated" after failing to make a video call to his children, an inquest was told.
Patrick Clayton, aged 29, was an inmate at Garth Prison, near Leyland.
He was found in his cell in September 2024 and despite desperate efforts to revive him he died the following day.
Senior Lancashire coroner Chris Long is holding an inquest at County Hall, Preston, into Mr Clayton's death.
The inquest has heard how Mr Clayton was taken from the segregation unit to a room where he was due to have a video call with his family.
But the call never took place, with Mr Clayton blaming staff.
He was taken back to his cell in an "agitated" state and had to be restrained one inside.
A short time afterwards the bell in his cell - used by inmates to alert prisoner officers - was activated and then reset.
Around half an hour later he was found hanged in his cell.
Prisoner officer Oliver Rafferty said that on September 3 he was working in the segregation unit.
He knew Mr Clayton could be "volatile". He was asked to escort him to the room for the video call and Mr Clayton became annoyed about the time it was taking.
Mr Rafferty said there was only a slight delay. He was later informed that the call had not been answered, and this made the prisoner "irate".
Mr Clayton was making verbal threats towards prison officers and once in his cell he grabbed the frame of the bed so officers could not move his arms.
Mr Rafferty said he was forced to restrain Mr Clayton, who was then left in his cell. He said he decided he was not the appropriate person to go back to check on the prisoner, but he understood that someone else would.
No-one saw the cell bell alert illuminating in a nearby office.
Prison officer Ashley Wilson said Mr Clayton could be "unpredictable" and had his ups and downs. When Mr Clayton lost his temper he found it was best to leave him to calm down.
Mr Wilson said the wing was "busy and understaffed" that day, so there was no-one based in the office permanently to monitor the cell bells.
He said he did not consider there was any risk to Mr Clayton and he made no threats to harm himself.
He left him to "cool down" and promised to see if he could arrange another phone call with Mr Clayton's family.
When he went back to the cell, he found Mr Clayton hanged. Everything possible was done to save his life by officers and health professionals, including performing CPR.
The hearing was told that another prisoner would say that he answered and reset Mr Clayton's cell bell after seeing it flashing.
(Proceeding)