Parliamentary meeting on restraint related death of Sheku Bayoh
On October 29^th Deborah Coles joined Roger Mullin MP for the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency, Sheku Bayoh’s family lawyer Aamer Anwar and members of the family to speak at a packed parliamentary meeting about his death following restraint by police and the investigation process. Speaking on the role of race, Deborah, identified the disproportionate number of black and minority ethnic deaths in restraint related incidents. Marci Rigg, sister of Sean Rigg from the United Families and Friends Campaign was also there to show her support for the family.

INQUEST Director Attends Hillsborough Inquest
On 1st February Deborah Coles attended the first day of summing-up at the Hillsborough inquest. INQUEST have been liaising with families and their lawyers throughout the inquest process. For all updates on the inquests, including transcripts of each hearing date, you can visit the Hillsborough Inquest website here.

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Family Voice

INQUEST Family Forums
Following the successful family forum in 28 November 2015, INQUEST is preparing for the next forum to take place in the Spring.  In November, 50 families and friends from across England came together to reflect on their thoughts and experiences following a death, and to support others at different stages of the inquest process.

There was overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants about the value of these sessions:
‘’The day is always very useful as you are meeting people that have been through a similar experience so there is no stigma or judgements made. These days are my form of counselling and help me tremendously.’’ 

‘’I believe that INQUEST is invaluable to the families that are going through this process. I feel that the day always goes too quickly.”

‘’The group chat was so excellent & insightful – it is so rare that we are offered a platform in which just to listen, empathise and cry amongst other similar people.’’

The day ended on a positive note, as we presented our Skills and Support Toolkit (see below). Thank you also to Equally Ours, an organisation set up to promote the importance of human rights, who delivered a presentation on the benefits of the Human Rights Act to bereaved families going through an inquest.

For more information on our Family Forums please see click on this link or please contact us on [email protected]

Family involvement in the Independent Review
As part of our work advising the Chair Dame Elish Angiolini, on the Independent Review, we have arranged a number of Family Listening Days for families of those who have died in and following police contact to share their experiences and advice.  This month we will hold two events which give families the opportunity to feed directly into the Independent Review and be heard directly by the Chair, Dame Elish Angiolini.  We are also conducting an extensive review of all the literature, previous inquiries, reports and other relevant material.

INQUEST Skills and Support Toolkit
In December INQUEST launched its new Skills and Support Toolkit, to widespread acclaim. The toolkit forms part of a project supported by the Big Lottery Fund.

This an interactive, user led resource for family and friends going through the inquest process. Whether it be getting paperwork organised, speaking in public for the first time, attending meetings or asking for support, the toolkit acts as a guide for families facing the daunting investigation and inquest process.
Families have the opportunity to practice existing skills, or try out new ones like dealing with the press and media, contacting their MP, or working with other families to campaign for a fairer system. You can access the toolkit here.

The toolkit has received widespread praise from families, legal practitioners and campaigners and has featured in various newsletters, such as Clinks and the Criminal Justice Alliance. Some of the positive comments include:
What a brilliant thing it is to see the Skills Toolkit now fully online and accessible - This will be a fantastic resource for affected families... Well done.
Tippa Naphtali, bereaved relative and founder of 4WardEver UK

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A summary of INQUEST and INQUEST Lawyers Group (ILG) responses to consultations

• Parliamentary Justice Committee Inquiry into Young Adult Offenders. In October, based on our longstanding expertise and extensive involvement in the Harris Review, we submitted further evidence on the vulnerabilities of 18-24 year olds in prison custody and the lack of accountability or oversight to prevent the high number of deaths among this age group;
• The Law Commission’s Consultation on Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty. Submitted in November INQUEST and ILG raised concerns in our response about the proposals to restrict the number of inquests into the deaths of people who were subject to Deprivation of Liberty safeguards (DOLS);
• Post-implementation Review of the Coroner Reforms in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. In December INQUEST submitted evidence on the changes brought in since the implementation of coronial reforms in 2013, and documents existing problems affecting bereaved families’ experience of the inquest process;
• In December, INQUEST responded to the HM Inspectorate for Police Custody (HMIC) and HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) consultation on its revised draft inspection document ‘Expectations for Police Custody’.  The draft is said to reflect and draw on 6 years of experience of police custody inspections conducted jointly by HMIP and HMIC, with a particular focus on the treatment and welfare of vulnerable people in police custody.  Most significantly the new inspection document seeks to extend the custody inspection regime to the first point of contact (i.e pre police station contact) with strengthened focus on the treatment of children and vulnerable adults.  INQUEST casework has seen a continuing and significant increase in the number of highly contentious police deaths involving vulnerable detainees.  We welcome the increased role of the HMIC/HMIP in assessing and monitoring police treatment of vulnerable people at all stages of police contact and await publication of the final report after which we will publish our response. 

We plan to publish all INQUEST responses to consultations on our website.

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Statistics
 
MOJ reports a further increase in prison deaths, assaults and self-harming incidents
New statistical data published by the Ministry of Justice, on 28 January 2016, shows a further spike in prison deaths, homicides and self-harming incidents (also includes figures for Immigration Removal Centres operated by NOMs). In the 12 months to December 2015 there were: 

• 257 deaths in prison custody, an increase of 14 more deaths compared with 2014;
• 89 recorded self-inflicted deaths, the same as in 2014;
• 8 apparent homicides, the highest number since records began;
• In the 12 months to end of September 2015 there were also 30,706 reported incidents of self-harm, up by 5,945 incidents (24%) on the same period in 2014.

See further information on the INQUEST website here.
 
In December the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody published its annual statistical overview of deaths in custody and detention. The statistics reveal 8,129 deaths in custodial/detained settings between 2000 to 2014, the majority (59%) of which were patients detained under the MHA (4801). The second highest (34%) were within prison settings at 2,728.

These two reports form the context for our experience of increased calls for our help. INQUEST statistical monitoring reveals the following:

INQUEST is aware of a total of 257 prison deaths in England & Wales in 2015. Of the total, 25 were BAME, 10 of which were self-inflicted, 10 non-self-inflicted, 2 were homicides and 3 are awaiting classification. There were 7 deaths of women in prison, 5 of which were self-inflicted, 1 non-self-inflicted and 1 still awaiting classification. There were 17 deaths of prisoners aged 18-24, of which 16 were self-inflicted and 1 non-self-inflicted.

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There were 28 deaths in police custody or following contact with the police in England and Wales in 2015. Of these, 6 were from BAME background and 2 were female. 3 people were shot dead by police in England and Wales in 2015, while 7 died in police vehicle incidents.

These figures are based on INQUEST's casework and monitoring and may be revised in light of updated information, including from the IPCC.

More detailed figures can be found on INQUEST's website at www.inquest.org.uk/statistics

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Please give your support to this fund for families

INQUEST continues its support for the National Mikey Powell Memorial Family Fund appeal that was launched on 7th September, the twelfth anniversary of his death in the custody of West Midlands Police. The fund will provide small grants to give practical help to families affected by deaths in UK state care and custody.  Find out more or make a pledge to the fund here.

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Organisational News
 
At the end of last year we welcomed Natasha Thompson as trainee caseworker, Patrick Hoare who joined us as temporary casework assistant and Nogah Ofer, as a senior policy officer/researcher for the duration of the Independent Review of Deaths in Police Custody. This year we welcome Raji Hunjan as our new Operations Director. We also say a sad goodbye to our wonderful and long standing Co-Director, Helen Shaw.  Together with Deborah Coles, Helen has led INQUEST to become the successful and respected organisation it is today. We wish her well for the future and are pleased that she will retain a link with INQUEST as one of our Associates.  We must also thank our policy volunteer Emma who makes a significant contribution to our policy work.

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Supporting INQUEST