Women prisoners making 1,000 calls a month to Samaritans, says report

Distressed Womansource: The Justice Gap
published: 11 February 2022

Women were making around 1,000 calls each month to the Samaritans from a prison in Derbyshire, according prison inspectors. A report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons has found instances of self-harm were the highest in the women’s prison estate at HMP Foston Hall and, for the first time, a women’s prison scored ‘poor’ in more than a decade ago with the inspectorate calling it ‘a rare and unexpected finding’.

The watchdog criticised the lack of any strategy to reduce self-harm in the prison which holds 272 women and serious attempts by women to take their own lives were not always investigated. Messages left on the prison’s crisis hotline had not been checked for six weeks on the day of the inspection.

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Sister Helen Prejean: 30-year mission to end capital punishment

Sister Helen Prejean

all credits: KSUT News
published: 7 January 2022

Sister Helen Prejean is known worldwide for her outspoken opposition to the death penalty. Over three decades, she’s worked to increase a national dialogue on capital punishment and to shape the Catholic Church’s vigorous opposition to execution.

She is the author of three books, including Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account Of The Death Penalty that had sparked a national debate. It [also] became a bestseller and an Academy Award-winning movie.

KSUT News spoke to Prejean about her continuing involvement in work to abolish the death penalty.

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Kingsley Burrell custody death: Police probe ‘secret’ Facebook site

Kingsley Burrell Campaignsource: Birmingham Mail
published: 6 January 2019

Police are investigating a secret Facebook site which has called on police officers to stage a counter protest to a demonstration that was planned to demand justice for Kingsley Burrell, who died in custody.

The call was made on Facebook page “Support for PC Adey” – which describes itself as a “secret group with 1.2k members” – and contains messages from supporters, some of whom appear to be serving officers.

That is a reference to PC Paul Adey, sacked by West Midlands Police last month for breaching standards over the restraint used on Mr Burrell after he was arrested and sectioned in 2011.

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