Sarah Reed : Care failings contributed to death in prison, inquest finds

Sarah Reed
Sarah Reed

source: The Guardian
published: 20 July 2017

A jury at the inquest of Sarah Reed, a mentally ill prisoner at HMP Holloway who took her life at the jail last year, has identified serious shortcomings in her care.

Reed was in prison awaiting medical reports about whether she was mentally fit to plead after being charged with assaulting a nurse in a secure psychiatric unit. The reports found she was unfit to plead, but Reed killed herself three days before they were due to be completed.

The jury concluded that Reed, 32, killed herself at a time when the balance of her mind was disturbed, but they were unsure whether she had intended to do so. They said a failure in management of her medication and the failure to conclude the fitness to plead assessment in a timely manner contributed to her subsequent death.

Continue reading

Police officers face no charges over the death of James Herbert

James Herbert
James Herbert

source: SomersetLive
published: 18 July 2017

An investigation into the death of Wells man James Herbert has concluded no criminal charges are warranted against any of the Avon and Somerset police officers involved in his care.

It has been seven years since James Herbert was found dead in a police cell in Yeovil and this week the CPS confirmed it had ruled out any legal action against Avon and Somerset Police.

James Herbert died on June 10, 2010, after being detained under the Mental Health Act after being seen acting strangely in a street in Wells. He was restrained by police and placed in the back of patrol van and driven almost 30 miles to Yeovil police station before being carried on a blanket into a cell.

Continue reading

Officers won’t face federal charges in killing of mentally ill man

James Boyd
James Boyd, police shooting

source: New York Times
published: 18 July 2017

Two police officers in Albuquerque will not face federal charges in the 2014 shooting death of James Boyd, a homeless man with paranoid schizophrenia, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

“After a careful and thorough review into the facts surrounding the shooting, federal investigators determined that there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt a violation of the federal statute,” the United States attorney’s office in New Mexico said in a statement announcing the closing of an inquiry into possible criminal civil rights violations.

Continue reading