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Home Office to review treatment of women offenders
by David Batty

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1644797,00.html

The Home Office is to carry out a review of the treatment of vulnerable women in the
criminal justice system following a series of deaths in prisons, it emerged today.
Home Office minister Baroness Scotland revealed the review in a letter to Pauline
Campbell - whose daughter Sarah died in Styal women's prison, Cheshire, in January
2003.
Prompted by rising levels of suicide and self-harm in women's jails, Mrs Campbell
asked the home secretary, Charles Clarke, to set up an independent public inquiry
into the deaths of six prisoners, including her daughter, at Styal over 2002-03 But
Baroness Scotland said the government had rejected this in favour of conducting a
review on how women with mental health and drug problems are treated within the
criminal justice system.
In the letter received by Mrs Campbell today, the minister writes: "We have decided
(...) it would be timely to look again at the measures in place to ensure that we are
doing everything possible for vulnerable women who come into contact with the
criminal justice system."
Baroness Scotland said the review's scope would be decided soon and added that it
should be led by someone "who will be regarded as independent of government".
Mrs Campbell said until the Home Office revealed more details about the review she
remained sceptical that it would be as effective as a public inquiry.
She told SocietyGuardian.co.uk: "It raises as many questions as it answers. Why can't
we have a public inquiry and is this going to be as good as one?"
But she added that it seemed the Home Office was "feeling very much under pressure"
about the deaths of women in prison.
She said: "A further 29 women prisoners have died from apparently self-inflicted
deaths in prisons in England since my daughter died in Styal prison in January 2003.
It's a national scandal, requiring government to take urgent action."
The Home Office review follows the publication today of the prison ombudsman's report
into the six self-inflicted deaths at Styal jail between August 2002 and August 2003.
The ombudsman said there was "inadequacy of the regime and procedures" in place at
the time, particularly on the jail's Waite wing, where five of the six deaths
occurred.
But Deborha Coles, co-director of Inquest - the pressure group that investigates
deaths in custody, said the report failed "to reflect any of the evidence that arose
from the inquests into the six deaths and the highly critical jury and coroner's
findings".
Mrs Campell also criticised the delay in publishing the full report, which was
completed two years ago.
She said: "Promises were made that publication would follow the sixth Styal inquest,
but that was held seven months ago. Overall, the dilatory response of the Prison
Service and the Home Office is disgraceful, given that six women lost their lives in
a 12-month period at Styal.
"No explanation was ever forthcoming about why the then prisons minister, Paul
Goggins, waited until six deaths occurred before sending in the ombudsman to
investigate. The whole business leaves an ugly stain on the record of the Prison
Service and the Home Office."

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and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.

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