UK: Is there justice or just us?
01 May 2001
Deaths in custody: families and campaigners ignored by government
In July 2001, the latest annual report of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) made much of changes, such as CCTV in custody suites and new training, that had "reduced deaths in police care and custody dramatically, from a high of 65 in 1998?99 to 32 this year."[1] Anyone reading these figures would, at first glance, view them as evidence of welcome progress. With the issue of deaths in custody having been forced onto the political agenda by campaigners, particularly over the last five years, the PCA has been heavily criticised for its inaction and is clearly keen to take the credit for a reduction in the number of deaths. However, playing the numbers game on this important issue is highly misleading. The Home Office's own research shows that, year to year, the number of deaths has varied wildly since 1981 (and, to add to the confusion, it records not 65 but 67 deaths in 1998?99 and 70 in 1999?00)[2]. Furthermore, statistics alone do nothing to show that each "number" represents a person with family and friends who have lost an important part of their lives and that over the years this means hundreds of people have faced the trauma of a death in custody. Nor do they reveal the grave concerns that bereaved families have about the way they are subsequently treated, the manner in which deaths are investigated or the repeated failure to prosecute those responsible. The impression that police officers are never held accountable for their actions ? that in a number of incidences they literally get away with murder ? undermines any confidence relatives have that the figures will not climb again.
It is astonishing that, given the number of people who have died in custody, the last time that there was any formal investigation of the issues that such deaths raise was twenty years ago, by the then Home Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons. Campaigners believe that this is because each death is treated as an isolated incident, a "terrible tragedy," although the common threads that run through the circumstances of many deaths seem to point to a persistent refusal by the state to learn lessons that could save lives. This is why individual family campaigns and INQUEST, the campaigning group that supports families, have repeatedly called for an independent public inquiry that can draw these threads together. In April 1999, families and campaigners met the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw, to argue a simple case: that deaths in custody, involving public institutions that have a duty of care and protection placed upon them following the removal of an individuals' liberty by arrest, imprisonment or detention under the Mental Health Act 1983, is a broad and complex issue that requires a properly funded, comprehensive and independent investigation. Confronted by relatives' frustration and anger, this was an uncomfortable meeting for a minister whose government has made much of the rights of families and Straw initially raised hopes by promising to consider the merits of an inquiry. Unfortunately, it subsequently appeared that he simply lacked the courage to refuse grieving families in person and they were told six months later in a letter from a senior Home Office official that the Home Secretary was "not persuaded of the need to initiate a public inquiry."[3]
In response, the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) decided to hold its own People's Tribunal into Deaths in Custody. UFFC was established by families of black people who have died in custody as a coalition that seeks to unite all families together, campaigning with INQUEST and Newham Monitoring Project to ensure that the voices of families and friends are heard. From the start, the Tribunal was not intended to be a substitute for a full public inquiry, but instead aimed to draw together families' experiences and testimony about the impact of custody deaths on people's lives. Families alone can sp