Reference the "Styal Prison suicides" - my daughter was one of the 6 women who died in the 12 months ending August 2003 in the "care" of HMP & YOI Styal. The Home Office has recorded these deaths as "self-inflicted", but the 6 juries did NOT return "suicide" verdicts.
My daughter's death was certainly NOT a suicide. She swallowed some tablets on 17.01.03, then told staff what she had done. Prison staff then walked out of her cell, and locked the door, leaving her alone. There was a delay of some 40 min before the prison bothered to call an ambulance; even then, a prison officer and a nurse argued about whose job it was to call the ambulance. When paramedics arrived at the jail, the ambulance was held up for 8 minutes before being allowed in.
In that fateful 24 hrs when my daughter was in the so-called care of Styal Prison, she was vomiting, fitting, suffered several cardiac arrests, and was bleeding from the nose and mouth when she died. This information was heard in evidence at the inquest, and is a matter of public record.
In Jan 2005, the jury at my daughter's inquest returned a detailed narrative verdict, stating that a "failure in the duty of care", and "avoidable delays" in summoning the ambulance, contributed to her death.
It suits the Home Office for these deaths to be thought of as suicides. But they weren't. A jury is not allowed to return a suicide verdict unless the evidence indicates that the person intended to take their own life.
[Bereaved mother of Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, 18, who died in the 'care' of HMP Styal, 18.01.03]
Pauline Campbell
Posted on 5 Aug 2006 3:46 pm
Reference the "Styal Prison suicides" - my daughter was one of the 6 women who died in the 12 months ending August 2003 in the "care" of HMP & YOI Styal. The Home Office has recorded these deaths as "self-inflicted", but the 6 juries did NOT return "suicide" verdicts.
My daughter's death was certainly NOT a suicide. She swallowed some tablets on 17.01.03, then told staff what she had done. Prison staff then walked out of her cell, and locked the door, leaving her alone. There was a delay of some 40 min before the prison bothered to call an ambulance; even then, a prison officer and a nurse argued about whose job it was to call the ambulance. When paramedics arrived at the jail, the ambulance was held up for 8 minutes before being allowed in. In that fateful 24 hrs when my daughter was in the so-called care of Styal Prison, she was vomiting, fitting, suffered several cardiac arrests, and was bleeding from the nose and mouth when she died. This information was heard in evidence at the inquest, and is a matter of public record. In Jan 2005, the jury at my daughter's inquest returned a detailed narrative verdict, stating that a "failure in the duty of care", and "avoidable delays" in summoning the ambulance, contributed to her death. It suits the Home Office for these deaths to be thought of as suicides. But they weren't. A jury is not allowed to return a suicide verdict unless the evidence indicates that the person intended to take their own life. [Bereaved mother of Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, 18, who died in the 'care' of HMP Styal, 18.01.03]