Government failing to protect ‘right to life’ in prisons
A hard-hitting report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights has concluded that the Government is not doing enough to ensure that prisoners’ ‘right to life’ is protected.
It points out that when the State forcibly detains an individual, it takes on full responsibility for protecting their human rights, the most important of which is the ‘right to life’ – article two of the European Convention on Human Rights.
In its investigation of deaths in custody, it concludes that the system does not protect this most basic right and that too many people are dying – mainly through suicide – in the country’s prisons, police cells, special hospitals and immigration centres.
And, it calls on the Government to set up a cross-departmental task-force on deaths in custody to tackle the UK’s “significant national problem” and allow central co-ordination of best practice in reducing deaths.
Committee chair Jean Corston MP said: “Each and every death in custody is a death too many, regardless of the circumstances. Yet throughout our inquiry we have seen time and time again that extremely vulnerable people are entering custody with a history of mental illness, drug and alcohol problems and potential for taking their own lives. These highly vulnerable people are being held within a structure glaringly ill-suited to meet even their basic needs.
“Crime levels are falling but we are holding more people in custody than ever before. The misplaced over-reliance on the prison system for some of the most vulnerable people in the country is at the heart of the problems that we encountered.”
She added that: “Until we change our whole approach to imprisoning vulnerable people, we cannot begin to meet our positive obligations under article two of the European Convention on Human Rights and meet our duty of care to them.”
It calls for “workable” alternatives to prison to be developed for these vulnerable groups. Further, it identifies a lack of necessary resources, both in terms of space and trained staff to deal with vulnerable detainees, noting: “In many institutions of detention, staff are working under great pressure and are often required to deal with violent or volatile situations involving people with complex healthcare and mental healthcare needs, too often without adequate training or specialist support.”
The committee calls for priority to be given to risk assessment and management of detainees – particularly in the early hours, days and weeks of their detention. Nearly one third of suicides occur within the first week of a prisoner arriving in jail.
Families also should be more involved and informed in subsequent investigation of any death, it adds.
Responding to the report, Enver Solomon, senior policy officer at the Prison Reform Trust, said: “With one person taking their own life every four days, on average, in prison urgent action across government is long overdue. But until the courts stop sending vulnerable people with multiple alcohol, drug and mental health problems to prison for committing minor crimes such as shoplifting, the number of suicides will not fall. At the same time, as today’s report demonstrates, there is a need for a culture change in our jails that focuses on reducing distress and promoting the well-being of prisoners.”
