The daughter of a former firefighter and Royal Navy veteran has settled a High Court claim after her father suffered what was described as an 'inhumane, degrading and undignified death' in prison after contracting Covid-19.
A Life of Service Ends in Tragedy
Alpha Kalay, 74, who came to the UK from Sierra Leone and served nine years in the Royal Navy, died on 19 January 2021 while serving a sentence at HMP Hull in East Yorkshire.
His daughter, Melanie Kalay, 52, took legal action against the Ministry of Justice and the City Health Care Partnership (CHCP) under the Human Rights Act. The case has now been settled for a five-figure sum.
Multiple Failures in Care
According to law firm Hodge Jones and Allen, which represented Ms Kalay, prison staff were aware that Mr Kalay was at high risk from Covid-19 due to his ethnicity and pre-existing health conditions, which included incontinence caused by spinal nerve damage.
When he contracted the virus on 8 January 2021, a catastrophic sequence of failures began. Officers who found his cell, bedding, and clothes soiled mistakenly assumed he was staging a 'dirty protest'.
As a result, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the elderly, unwell man. He was placed in a segregation unit, and several critical opportunities to provide him with proper medical care were missed.
An Undignified Final Journey
Mr Kalay was eventually moved to a wellbeing unit before being taken to Hull Royal Infirmary. There, he was diagnosed with type one respiratory failure and a stage three acute kidney injury. He died just five days later.
A coroner found that staff had repeatedly failed to correctly assess Mr Kalay, who was discovered 'dehydrated, cold, confused, and unable to communicate while dressed in soiled clothes'.
Speaking after the settlement, Melanie Kalay said her father was treated 'as a problem, not a person'. She stated, 'I am pleased we have settled the case and justice has been done, but it doesn't take away the pain I have endured, nor will it wipe away my dad's suffering.'
She added, 'It breaks my heart that his final days were spent like this, alone and subjected to multiple humiliations.' Mr Kalay had been jailed for four-and-a-half years following an altercation with a teenager and was close to finishing his sentence.
Ruth Waters-Falk, the civil liberties lawyer representing the family, said, 'It is unbelievable to think that an elderly, vulnerable prisoner could be left in such degrading conditions.'
A Prison Service spokesperson offered an apology, stating, 'We are sorry that he did not receive adequate support in his final days.' A spokesperson for CHCP expressed deep sadness but cited patient confidentiality regarding the details of his care.
