Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC - formerly IPCC)
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Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody publishes first annual report
Issued by the IPCC on behalf of the Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody
The Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody - an independently-chaired high level group to reduce deaths in custody - has today published its first annual report. The Forum has found that approximately 600 people die each year in custody. Although many of these deaths are through natural causes, some follow as a result of apparent suicide attempts and others from other non natural causes. The Forum believes that some of these deaths could and should have been prevented.
The Forum's work over its first eighteen months has demonstrated the need for a more robust and joined-up approach to information sharing between agencies to ensure that important information about people who may be at risk is shared quickly and accurately between them. For example, the Prison Service and police use the Prisoner Escort Record (known as a PER form) to record information about people in custody, as this is often the only way of transferring information about risk of self-harm or vulnerability from one agency to another.
While the Forum's report highlights the need for more to be done to prevent and learn from custody deaths, it also acknowledges the good practice which is taking place in different custodial settings in England and Wales. For example, there has not been a restraint related death in the Prison Service for 12 years. A key area of work for the Forum is examining how each of the organisations learns lessons from previous deaths and how they share this learning both internally and with other sectors.
The Forum's report emphasises that the group is still in the first stages of its development. It also highlights how a lack of resources has made the group's task a difficult one. In May this year the Government made a commitment to review the Forum's current arrangements with a view to strengthening them.
John Wadham, Legal Group Director for the Commission for Equality and Human Rights and chair of the Forum said:
"The Forum very much welcomes this review as the current lack of resources has made the group's task a difficult one. We have not been able to conduct or commission research into any of the issues we believe are worthy of it, and we have no capacity to monitor or report on the recommendations that may be made as result of investigations, inspections or inquests.
"As chair of the Forum I have invited the Ministry of Justice Minister, Maria Eagle MP, to discuss some of the issues raised in our report. I am pleased that the Minister has accepted this invitation and look forward to discussing with her how the Forum intends to take forward its work over the coming year."
Ministry of Justice Minister, Maria Eagle said:
"The Government welcomes the Forum's first annual report and is grateful to its chair John Wadham and all its members for their commitment to reducing the number of deaths in custody. We have supported the Forum's work during the first 18 months of its existence and will continue to take a close interest in its work over the coming year. There are clearly lessons arising from many of the deaths in custody each year and the Forum plays an important part in helping organisations to learn from these.
"The Government has acknowledged the Forum's call for an increase in its resources and has commissioned a review of the current arrangements with a view to strengthening them. I welcome the opportunity to meet with John Wadham to discuss the Government's role in taking forward the issues raised in this report".
The Joint Committee on Human Rights' report on deaths in custody was published in December 2004, and recommended the setting up of a multi-agency body to focus specifically on deaths in custody. In October 2005, the Government responded to the JCHR's report by outlining its commitment to better co-ordinate the existing processes and to work with the key agencies to consolidate a new multi-agency forum to take this forward.
The Forum met for the first time in November 2005 and, following work to draft their terms of reference, met again in February 2006 to agree the programme of work for the coming year. Subsequently, the Forum has held four further meetings in June and October 2006 and February and June 2007.
The work of the Forum includes deaths of people in prison, police stations, immigration detention and secure mental hospitals. The Forum also focuses on those who have been released from custody and are under supervision of the National Probation Service.
The core membership of the Forum consists of senior representatives from the following organisations: Association of Chief Police Officers; Coroners' Society; Department of Health; Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary; Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons; Home Office, Border and Immigration Agency; Independent Police Complaints Commission; INQUEST; Mental Health Act Commission; Safer Custody Group, National Offender Management Service; National Probation Directorate; Prisons and Probation Ombudsman; Prison Service; and Youth Justice Board.
More information about the Forum can be found at http://www.preventingcustodydeaths.org.uk
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Notes for editors
Notes for editors
The Forum's Chair is currently held by John Wadham, Legal Group Director for the Commission for Equality and Human Rights and former Deputy Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The Forum's secretary is Kate Eves. She can be contacted at kate.eves@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk The JCHR report said 'The report concludes by recommending the establishment of a cross-departmental expert task-force on deaths in custody, supported by human rights expertise, with the functions of: sharing information on good practice and developing guidelines in relation to the prevention of deaths in custody; reviewing the systems for conducting investigations into deaths in custody; developing good practice standards on training; reviewing recommendations from coroners, public inquiries and research and monitoring progress in their implementation; collecting and publishing information on deaths in custody; and commissioning research and making recommendations to Government.' It can be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200405/jtselect/jtrights/15/1502.htm The Government's response to the JCHR report can be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200405/jtselect/jtrights/69/6902.htm and http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200506/jtselect/jtrights/60/6002.htm
