Coroner's fury at death of suicide watch prisoner; INQUEST: Warwickshire jail 'appalling and unacceptable'.

Byline: Emma Stone

THE TREATMENT of a prisoner who died while on suicide watch at a Warwickshire prison has been slammed as "appalling" and "unacceptable".

The comments were made by assistant deputy coroner for Northamptonshire Tom Osbourne yesterday , after a jury found serious failures contributed to the death of Aleksey Baranovsky while at HMP Rye Hill, near Rugby, in June 2006.

The inquest was told that 33-yearold Baranovsky, who was transferred to privately-run Rye Hill in February 2006 after serving part of his sevenyear sentence for burglary in other jails, was placed under suicide watch and repeatedly refused treatment.

He was found unconscious in his cell at about midnight on June 9. Returning a narrative verdict, the jury found several factors contributed to the Ukrainian's death, including a failure to carry out an adequate mental health assessment at any time while he was at Rye Hill.

They also said there was a failure to assess healthcare needs and to draw up a detailed care plan, as well as inadequate communication between prison staff, security and management.

The inquest heard that Baranovsky feared he would be killed by the Russian Mafia if he returned to the Ukraine. During a meeting about his care, there was a "range of views," with some people thinking he was playing games and the hearing was told it was difficult to confirm if his fears over the Mafia were true.

Mr Osbourne said: "The treatment he received while at Rye Hill was both appalling and at times unacceptable.

I have no hesitation in adopting the words of Stephen Shaw from the Prison and Probation Ombudsman when he said it was shameful.

He added he did not feel the need to write any report or recommendations following the verdict of the inquest, as changes had already been made to procedures at the prison.

CAPTION(S):

UNDER FIRE... the privately-run Rye Hill prison in Warwickshire where Aleksey Baranovsky was found dead.