UK: Securicor staff suspended
01 July 1997
Seven Securicor staff who were on duty when a young black man, Peter Austin, hanged himself in his cell beneath Brentford magistrates court, have been suspended from working with prisoners by the Prison Service. The suspension followed an inquest jury's finding that lack of care contributed to the man's death (see Statewatch, vol 7 no 3).
Peter Austin died in January after hanging by his T-shirt from a light fitting as Securicor staff, who claimed that he was "faking" it, watched through the cell door for ten minutes. Securicor is one of several private companies contracted by the Home Office to escort prisoners and guard them during detention. It runs a six week course to train its officers which covers legal issues, prisoner management, security, supervision and first aid. The case of Peter Austin provides clear evidence of deficiencies in this training, particularly relating to the treatment of black people.
Concern about the number of black people who die in custody has been a cause for alarm for some years and organisations such as the Institute of Race Relations, who have recorded 7 deaths this year, have consistently drawn attention to this situation. In their recent report "United Kingdom: an agenda for human rights protection" (EUR 45/12/97) Amnesty International also drew attention to this crisis when they called for "the government to establish a wide-ranging and independent inquiry into the significant numbers of deaths in custody due to alleged violence which have occurred in England in recent years." Pointing out the "disproportionate number of deaths [which] have occurred of people from black and ethnic minorities" they go on to urge that:
The inquiry would need to investigate a wide range of issues including why a disproportionate number of deaths have occurred of people from black and ethnic minorities; the types of equipment used for law enforcement and the controls on the use of such equipment; the training of police and prison officers in the use of methods of restraint and the medical risks of some of the methods. At the same time, the enquiry should examine the procedures used to investigate such deaths and the inadequacies of the inquest system, as presently constituted in England and Wales, to provide a fair and thorough public enquiry into the full circumstances of a disputed death.
The pressure group, Inquest, have also called for review of controversial deaths in custody.
Amnesty International "UNITED KINGDOM: An agenda for human rights protection" (EUR 45/12/97); Independent 26.6.97.