The controversial Parc prison made several errors in the case, a report has found
Lewis Petryszyn
A prisoner was found dead in his cell 45 minutes after a disciplinary notice was put under the door. The death of 25-year-old Lewis Petryszyn came after a series of failings by staff at Bridgend’s troubled HMP Parc, according to a newly-released report from the prisons ombudsman.
Last month an inquest at Pontypridd Coroners’ Court heard Mr Petryszyn, from Pontardawe, had ingested a “bad batch” of the Class B psychoactive substance spice before his death in April 2022. The coroner concluded he died from the inhalation of drugs.
Now the ombudsman has highlighted a string of errors at the jail where Petryszyn had been imprisoned in 2021 after being handed a sentence of three years and 10 months for trafficking Class A drugs and intentionally wounding a man outside Swansea’s Fiction nightclub.
In October that year Mr Petryszyn told a prison GP he had been having flashbacks to childhood trauma. He was prescribed fluoxetine for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
On April 6, 2022, staff found a ‘debt list’ in Mr Petryszyn’s cell. A week later he was moved to another unit due to “concerns about his behaviour and the possible threat that he posed to other prisoners”, the report reads.
On April 14 he tested positive for a psychoactive substance. The following day, at 1.40pm, a prison officer went to his cell to give him paperwork for a disciplinary hearing.
Ombudsman Kimberley Bingham wrote: “[The officer] told us that he looked through the cell door observation panel, thought that Mr Petryszyn and his cellmate were asleep, and slid the paperwork under the door.”
Around 45 minutes later another prison officer went to the cell to deliver a prison shop order. “She found Mr Petryszyn slumped on the floor and his cellmate sitting on his bed, staring into space,” wrote Ms Bingham.
Mr Petryszyn was unresponsive and resuscitation attempts failed. The post-mortem found two types of illicit psychoactive substance in his system as well as an antipsychotic, olanzapine – which he had not been prescribed – and one of his prescribed antidepressants, mirtazapine.
The ombudsman found local policy was breached by the officer who put the paperwork under the door rather than handing it to the inmate in person. “This meant that staff missed a possible opportunity to provide emergency medical care to Mr Petryszyn sooner,” the report states.
Prison staff suspected Mr Petryszyn had been dealing drugs in the jail as well as assaulting and “bullying” vulnerable prisoners over drug debts.
Lewis Rhys Thomas Petryszyn(Image: South Wales Police)
Ms Bingham found staff failed to properly apply the procedure for managing violent prisoners. “This meant that staff missed the opportunity to put in place support for Mr Petryszyn and to explore the extent of his involvement in distributing psychoactive substances,” she added.
The ombudsman wrote that she was concerned by the availability of psychoactive drugs at the jail as well as the problem of prescribed medication being sold on.
The report also criticised the prison pharmacist for prescribing Mr Petryszyn two antidepressants, mirtazapine and fluoxetine, at the same time. According to guidelines only a doctor with specialist experience should prescribe two antidepressants of this class together.
Last month a damning report into Parc found a failure to tackle an “alarming” flow of drugs led to “a spate of tragic deaths”. The inspection concluded standards had “declined significantly” from 2022 because of private security giant G4S winning a 10-year contract to run the jail.
The inspector pointed to serious deficiencies including cell windows that can be easily opened from inside allowing drugs to be pulled in from drones.
Last year there were 17 inmate deaths at Parc – more than any other UK prison – of which five were drug-related, three self-inflicted, eight of natural causes, and one of unknown causes. You can read more on the scathing report here and concerns over the prison’s inadequate meals here.