Alarm in cell 'could have saved woman's life'
Family photoA woman who died in a vape fire in her cell may have been saved if the prison was fitted with automatic alarms, an inquest has heard.
Clare Dupree, 48, from Cardiff, died on 28 December 2022, at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, two days after a vaping device caught fire in her cell at HMP Eastwood Park.
The inquest at Avon Coroner's Court heard earlier from Justin Ashburn, from the Crown Premises' Fire Safety Inspectorate (CPFSI), who said he would "want to see" automatic fire detection (AFD) systems in cells.
Despite a 2015 inspection recommending AFDs, they were not in place more than seven years later at the time of Dupree's death, and still have not been installed more than a decade on.
Instead, the deadly fire was only detected by a domestic smoke detector (DSD) in the corridor outside Dupree's cell, after it had been burning for a significant period of time.
Responding to questioning from the family's barrister Nick Armstrong, Ashburn said: "What we don't know unequivocally is the point of ignition, but it's not a minute [we can see from the damage] that it had been burning for a period of time [when the alarm was raised."
Pressed further on whether an AFD "may have saved" Dupree, Ashburn replied: "Potentially."
He also expressed his "frustration" that the CPFSI has no statutory powers to prosecute publicly-owned prisons - which have so-called Crown immunity- for failing to meet fire safety standards.
Ashburn explained that major issues with fire safety in what would become Dupree's residential block were identified during an inspection in 2015, when it was recommended that AFDs be installed in cells.
With seven years between the inspection and Dupree's death, Armstrong asked Ashburn if he had ever thought "this is taking longer than inspected" to install the alarms.
"Every single week," he replied, adding the situation was the "bane of our frustration".
"Clearly it's gone on way too long - I'm not in a position to say why it's taken this long," Ashburn added.
Despite the HM Prison and Probation Service committing to installing AFDs by 2027, Ashburn told the inquest his team were "sceptical" about the service's ability to meet this deadline due to the difficult situation facing prisons.
The inquest heard that recent evidence suggests work to install AFDs in all cells at Eastwood Park will finally begin in May, with completion by 2028.
The inquest continues.
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