On 10 December 2025 a jury returned a second critical conclusion in a case concerned with the struggling women’s prison in South Gloucestershire, Eastwood Park. Taylor Atkinson was a trans man who died on 9 July 2022. He is thought to have been the only IPP prisoner left in the women’s estate who had never been released, and he was nearly 9 years over a less than 4 year tariff. It was said that he failed a key release on temporary licence on 20 May 2022. Although that was disputed, it precipitated a serious downturn in Taylor’s presentation over the next 50 days.
The jury heard that the prison was struggling with its ACCT suicide/self-monitoring processes at the time, and that a number of the key protective steps were not taken. Taylor’s death followed the death of another prisoner, Kay Melhuish, two days earlier. Taylor and Kay had been on the same wing.
Nick Armstrong KC was instructed by Nkiru Okafor and Yewande Oyekan of Deighton Pierce Glynn.