VIGIL TO MARK THE 4TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF SARAH ELIZABETH CAMPBELL

A vigil will be held outside HMP and YOI Styal, Cheshire
on Thursday 18 January 2007, 1.30 pm - 4.00 pm
to mark the 4th anniversary of the death of Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, aged 18
who died in the so-called care of HMP and YOI Styal on 18 January 2003

Flowers will be laid in memory of Sarah, and banners will be displayed
Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend

Notes

1.
Aged 18, Sarah was the youngest of six women to die in the 'care' of HMP & YOI Styal, between August 2002 and August 2003.
2.
The six deaths at Styal have been described by INQUEST, London - - as "a clear example of corporate manslaughter", yet no-one at the jail has been held to account. Why?
3.
BBC report includes the above quote in context (report heading: "Dying for change").
4.
Sarah was convicted on 16.01.03; sentenced and sent to HMP Styal on 17.01.03; and died in Wythenshawe Hospital on 18.01.03.
5.
January 2005: the jury at Sarah's 11-day inquest returned a detailed narrative verdict, stating that a "failure in the duty of care", and "avoidable delays" in calling the ambulance, contributed to her death [jury did not return a 'suicide' verdict].
6.
September 2006: the Home Office conceded liability, admitting that Sarah's human rights were breached under the European Convention on Human Rights, but it was a shameful admission. There was no apology for the death of my only child.
7.
The cause of death was anti-depressant prescription drug poisoning.
8.
Prison address: HMP & YOI Styal, Styal Road, Styal, Nr Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 4HR.

Comment

"Sarah died on 18 January 2003. In September 2006, the Home Office conceded liability, and admitted that Sarah's human rights were breached under the European Convention on Human Rights [Human Rights Act 1998]. However, the absence of an apology represents a lack of humanity on the part of the Home Office (Ref 1 - see below).

"The parents of Emma Levey, aged 24, another vulnerable young woman who also died in the 'care' of the Prison Service in 2003, received an official apology in 2006 (Ref 2). When I spoke to her parents in London in October 2006, they expressed dismay that I have not received a similar apology.

"The deaths of women prisoners, and the shoddy treatment of grieving families, is scandalous. An obsession with the need to appear "tough" has resulted in a Government devoid of compassion, alongside a lack of integrity, decency and common humanity.

"When deaths in custody occur, we are continually told that lessons will be learned yet, despite these assurances from the Home Office and the Prison Service, a further 32 women have died [apparently self-inflicted deaths] in English jails since Sarah's death in 2003 (Ref 3). It is a damning indictment on the level of 'care' given to some of the most vulnerable women in society that this has been allowed to happen under a so-called modern Labour Government. Shame on the Home Office and Prison Service. I am a heartbroken mother, my only child has died, and I want an apology."

References

Ref 1
Ref 2
Ref 3: there are no women's prisons in Wales

Additional information

(a) In 2003, I refused payment of Sarah's funeral expenses (over £2,000) from the Home Office, until they were prepared to give an assurance that all grieving families would, in future, be offered payment of funeral expenses. That assurance has now been given and, at the end of 2006, I was reimbursed the appropriate amount (which I had had to borrow from a friend in 2003).

(b) Because Sarah died in the so-called care of HMP and YOI Styal, I considered the Prison Service had a moral obligation to pay for the headstone for her grave, especially as I was unable to meet the cost [£997]. I instructed my solicitors [Messrs Bhatt Murphy, London] to send an appropriate letter to the Home Office, following which Styal Prison paid the bill, and Sarah's headstone has now been ordered. As with funeral expenses, this must become standard practice, and could be an important step in introducing some compassion into the Home Office; my views will be conveyed to the Home Office. As a matter of principle, payment for a headstone should not be restricted to those who put pressure on 'the establishment'.

(c) The number of women and girls in prison in 1997, when Labour took office, was 2,629. The current figure is 4,314 (05.01.07), yet there has been no equivalent increase in the number of women committing offences, or of women committing more serious crime. Labour has presided over this shameful increase in the number of women sent to jail.


Pauline Campbell
Bereaved mother of Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, 18, who died in the 'care' of HMP & YOI Styal, 18.01.03
Trustee of The Howard League for Penal Reform
Awarded The 2005 Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize
E-mail

Posted by John Tyrrell at January 11, 2007 9:06 AM

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