Annual Report 2004 - Inquest

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22 UFFC on the march October ● Stephen Shaw Prisons and Probation Ombudsman addresses the INQUEST Lawyers Group meeting on Investigating Deaths in Prison ● Hold well attended workshop at the European Social Forum on the struggles of families for justice following deaths in custody ● Meet with Prison Inspectorate on issues arising from recent inquests into deaths in prison ● Dr Joanna Bennett, sister of David ‘Rocky’ Bennett and INQUEST Board member wins Mental Health Media Award ● Christopher Alder’s family win permission to judicially review the Home Secretary’s decision not to hold public inquiry ● Present paper on the issues arising from INQUEST’s work on deaths in custody at Capita Conference ‘Deaths in Police Care’ ● Attend sixth annual UFFC procession ● Attend vigil in memory of 16-year-old Anthony Redding at HMYOI Brinsford ● Harry Stanley unlawful killing verdict returned and armed police officers in Metropolitan Police SO19 Firearms Unit lay down weapons in protest at verdict INQUEST Lawyers Group We advise lawyers on both procedural and tactical matters and we encourage those we advise to become members of our INQUEST Lawyers Group (ILG), a national pool of solicitors and barristers who are willing and able to provide preparation and legal representation for bereaved families. Our Lawyers Group is made up of committed, experienced barristers, solicitors and law students including the leading inquest and human rights practitioners in the country. ILG members now have access to an email group in which ideas and questions are raised with other members. Work has been carried out to expand the INQUEST Lawyers Group membership which has resulted in a membership increase of 25%. ILG members receive Inquest Law, the in-house journal published three times a year for subscribers. The journal covers cutting edge cases, inquests and judgments and is written by members of the ILG or other invited parties. This year we approached all coroners to subscribe to Inquest Law and so far a quarter have subscribed.
23 14 12 10 Self-inflicted Deaths in Prison by Month, 2004 Statistics INQUEST is the only independent organisation in England and Wales to collate statistics on deaths in custody. Our statistics are aggregated from information received from official and other sources and are used widely across the media. Although the statistics are available on our website, very often we will get requests for specific statistics regarding a particular institution or type of death. In monitoring and analysing these statistics we are able to uncover patterns and trends emerging. A detailed breakdown of statistics is available on our website www.inquest.org.uk Communications and Publicity Media INQUEST has always seen media coverage of the issues arising from deaths in custody and the inquest system as a crucial part of our work to prevent unnecessary deaths and campaign for reform. Raising public awareness and generating media interest and scrutiny of the issues ensures policy makers cannot ignore the serious concerns that emerge. INQUEST deals with the print and broadcast media on a daily basis fielding their queries and circulating information. In 2004 we dealt with over 1,500 telephone 8 6 4 2 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 10 12 7 7 8 6 7 14 8 9 6 3 enquiries. Following the death of Adam Rickwood we responded to over 70 media calls. Our co-directors have been widely quoted in the national and local press and are frequently called upon for comment in the broadcast media. We are most often asked to comment for news programmes or news articles but also work with journalists on documentaries and feature articles. This year the programme Death on Camera about the death in custody of Christopher Alder and the articles in ‘The Times’ about deaths of women in prison were good examples of this. We had been involved with the programme makers of Death on Camera for over two years. We were interviewed on the programme, provided extensive background briefing and attended the press conference alongside Christopher Alder’s sister Janet. The feature article in ‘The Times’ arose from a series of discussions with the journalist, providing extensive
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Annual Report 2004 - Inquest

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