Annual Report 2004 - Inquest

12
Roger Sylvester Justice Campaign banner
May
● Family of Christopher
Alder picket the Home
Office to demand public
inquiry
● Co-ordinate meeting of
families bereaved by
deaths in custody with
members of the
parliamentary Joint
Committee on Human
Rights
● Host first INQUEST
seminar Bereaved People
and Inquests – working
with clients affected by
the inquest system – in
London
● Meet with Prisons and
Probation Ombudsman
about their investigation
of prison deaths
● Meet with senior
Department of Health
officials and again with
Rosie Winterton MP,
Minister of State, about
the government response
to the Bennett Inquiry
● Speak on black deaths
in custody at the
‘Criminology in the New
Millenium’ Conference –
Race, Criminal Justice
and Gender
● Meet with Chris Ruane
MP about the call for
public inquiry into the
death of Joseph Scholes
police officers involved in fatal restraint are seen to be
above the law and families whose loved ones have died as a
result of excessive and unlawful force can get no justice
and accountability. The Roger Sylvester Justice Campaign
continues to highlight the injustices suffered by the family.
Families’ Experiences of Deaths in Custody
INQUEST’s Nuffield Foundation funded project on
families’ experiences following deaths in custody has
drawn extensively on the work outlined. The report will be
published in 2005 and will draw attention to continuing
thematic problems across all areas of custody.
Reform of the Inquest System
During the year we have been in an ongoing dialogue with
the Home Office about the proposed reform of the inquest
system. In March the government announced proposals on
reforming the coroner and death certification service in
response to the report of the Fundamental Review of
Coroner Services and the Shipman Inquiry. A position
paper was published that proposes a national system