Prisons - policing
01 October 2011
Traumatization and Mental Distress in Long-term Prisoners in Europe, Manuela Dudeck, Kirstin Drenkhahn, Carsten Spitzer, Sven Barnow, Daniel Kopp, Philipp Kuwert, Harold J. Freyberger and Frieder Dunkel. Punishment and Society Volume 13 no. 4 (October) 2011, pp. 403-423. The article examines the traumatisation and mental distress of 1,055 male European long-term prisoners from Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Spain and Sweden. “In each national sample, more than 50 per cent of the participants were in need of treatment because of psychological symptoms and nearly one third had attempted suicide.”
Solitary Confinement must Stop. Scotland Against Criminalising Communities Press release 28.11.11. The human rights group Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) will contact the governments of Britain, USA, France, Germany, Turkey and Australia to ask them to “eliminate long-term solitary confinement and isolation of prisoners.” Citing the examples of Babar Ahmad, Talha Ahsan and others, the campaign expresses its opposition to Britain’s extradition arrangements with the USA, which provides for “evidence-free extradition to the USA, where prisoner isolation is commonplace.” http://www.sacc.org.uk/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=867&catid=27
No way out: a briefing paper on foreign national women in prison in England and Wales. Prison Reform Trust (January) 2012, pp. 16. “Foreign national women, many of whom are known to have been trafficked or coerced into offending, represent around one in seven of all the women held in custody in England and Wales. Yet comparatively little information has been produced about these women, their particular circumstances and needs, the offences for which they have been imprisoned and about ways to respond to them justly and effectively.” This briefing draws on the work of the charity FPWP Hibiscus, the Female Prisoners Welfare Project to redress the balance. It offers findings and recommendations which could be used to inform a strategy for the management of foreign national women in the justice system.
Review of the medical theories and research relating to restraint related deaths. Caring Solutions (UK) University of Central Lancashire, pp. 94, 2011. This report was commissioned by the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody and considers research from national and international literature to “ascertain common findings in order to provide guidance for staff on safe and effective restraint techniques in the management of violent and aggressive individuals.” The report concludes: “Six of the thirty eight deaths noted in this report involved individuals with pre-existing conditions that may have increased the risk of cardiac arrest: e.g. ischaemic heart disease, diabetes and four people suffered from epilepsy. Sixteen cases had a history of mental illness, specifically psychosis. Positional asphyxia appears to be implicated in at least twenty six deaths (whether or not given as a verdict) because of struggle/physical stressors prior to restraint, number of staff involved and, in particular, because of the length of time of the restraint and position of the individual.” Available: http://iapdeathsincustody.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Caring-Solutions-UK-Ltd-Review-of-Medical-Theories-of-Restraint-Deaths.pdf