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Deaths at Durham prison

01 August 2003

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HMP Durham holds over 100 women prisoners and is the only high security jail for women inmates. It is overcrowded and, by its own admission unable to cope. At an inquest into the death of Beverley Fowler, who hanged herself in her cell at the jail in October 2002, the jail’s regime was severely criticised. On 19 September 2003 a jury at Durham magistrates court returned an open verdict into Beverley Fowler’s death. Beverley was due to be deported to Jamaica two days after she killed herself, having completed her sentence for smuggling Class A drugs into the UK. She was known to be terrified at the prospect of deportation because she believed a criminal gang was looking for her. Gilly Mundy, a caseworker for INQUEST, said in a statement "Beverley was one of four who had taken her life at HMP Durham from August 2002 to May 2003. Prior to that there had been no deaths at the jail for 12 years. The spate of deaths coincided with a 150% increase in the female population at Durham." The effect of the increase was made worse by the fact that about 25% of the inmates were on special watch. INQUEST; BBC News Online 20.9.03

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