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UK: Inquest into the prison death of Arif Hussain

01 September 2005

Arif Hussain died from a drug overdose at Full Sutton on 11 March 2003. At the June 2005 inquest into his death, the jury held that his death was an accident-due to his ingestion of heroin on a prison visit seven days prior to his death, but that defects in the prison system materially contributed to his death-in particular the lack of an appropriate drug ingestion protocol. Evidence from prisoners in the segregation unit where Arif was held suggests he was not merely neglected, but abused. Arif was treated by a consultant psychiatrist while at Full Sutton, who deemed that he was a polysubstance user and a depressive. He was held in a strip cell, clearly distressed and possibly hallucinating, but described by staff in the segregation log as a "total pain in the arse."

One prisoner, Murat Mavric, gave evidence that Arif was periodically denied food and water by segregation unit staff and was often verbally abused as "a fat Paki." Another prisoner, Craig Smith, recalls that on the night of his death, Arif cried out "I need a doctor." A forensic toxicologist told the inquest that if Arif had been transferred to hospital up to six hours before his death he would "more likely than not" have survived.

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