Jail death leads to protest (From Gazette Series)

Jail death leads to protest

POLICE were called to Eastwood Park prison at Falfield this week during a demonstration by penal reform campaigners.

Two banner-waving women demonstrators were protesting at the gates of the women's prison following the latest death of an inmate.

They claim the death of 32-year-old Justine Rees - found in her cell with a ligature round her neck on June 4 - underlines the need to stem the number of vulnerable women being sent into custody by the courts.

Anger flared after a prisoner transport vehicle operated by custody services firm Reliance was prevented from entering the prison.

The incident led to protest leader Pauline Campbell lodging a formal complaint police in respect of alleged "aggressive" actions by the driver.

Mrs Campbell, whose own 18-year-old daughter, Sarah, died in prison custody in Cheshire in 2003, laid flowers at the gates in memory of Ms Rees, whose death has yet to be investigated at a coroner's inquest.

She said 2004 had seen the death of 13 women in Britain's "overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded" jails.

"Justine Rees's death is the second apparently self inflicted death in a women's prison this year," said Mrs Cambell, a retired teacher from Malpas, Cheshire.

"There are very serious problems of courts jailing women who are mentally ill and who should never be in custody. Two thirds of all women prisoners are mothers and the vast majority have been convicted of non-violent offences. They should be dealt with by the use of community sentences which are more effective and also cost the country a lot less.

"Many of these women prisoners are disturbed and ioslated and many harm themselves as a way of coping. The suicide figires are very distressing."

The Falfield demonstation was the latest in a series of protests by Mrs Campbell at jails across the country.