A recent London inquest heard a list of ‘systematic failings’ by Pentonville prison over the death of Paul Calvert in October 2004. Paul, a 40-year-old heroin addict from Hackney, was the father of two children. The court heard he had made many attempts to stop using illegal drugs. The jury was told he had a history of depression and self-harm.
The original allegations against Paul had been dropped but he was arrested for breach of bail conditions. Two days after he arrived at Pentonville, Paul climbed up pipes; after pressing the emergency button, he hanged himself from the cell window with his belt. Witnesses testified that they warned officers he was depressed, yet they moved his cellmate into another cell, leaving him alone.
The alarm could not be heard because the mute button was held down by sticky tape. It was normal practice for prisoners and not officers to answer alarms. Former prisoner James Manning testified that he was teaching an officer to play backgammon when he noticed a warning light and went to check Paul’s cell. This was at 2.20-2.30pm but the light could have been on from 1.40pm. Paul had wet himself and he had been there long enough for the urine to partially dry.
The jury returned a majority verdict of misadventure and criticised the prison for systematic failures, breach of security, lack of communication and disabling the cell bells. Paul’s inquest had been delayed to enable the Crown Prosecution Service to consider prosecuting junior staff. As per normal in these cases nobody is being prosecuted. No-one who was a senior manager at the time at Pentonville was called by the coroner to explain the behaviour of their staff or how they allowed the alarm to be disabled. This culture comes from the top. Currently there is a bill before Parliament called the Corporate Manslaughter Bill. The Lords have amended it to include prisons and police stations. The Labour government has threatened to withdraw the bill if the Commons accepts this amendment.
Jim Wills
Prisoner wins compensation in Germany
FRFI is also read in Germany and I’m really glad that your paper does not forget people in prison. Two months ago, a court in the south of Germany found the state guilty of violating the rights of a prisoner here in Bruchsel prison. He lost his job in the prison store (where he was paid ¤70 a month), but the court ruled that this was a wrong decision by the warden. So the state was ordered to pay him ¤2,000 for his financial damage.
Well, only a little victory – but still a victory! Thanks to all of you who help prisoners read FRFI for free.
Thomas Meyer-Falk
www.freedom-for-thomas.de
FRFI 197 June / July 2007
