Prisoner Death Investigations: Improving Safety in Prisons and Societies, 2019-2020

Tomczak, Philippa and Hyde, Sara (2024). Prisoner Death Investigations: Improving Safety in Prisons and Societies, 2019-2020. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-855785

In May 2019, Dutch courts refused to deport an English suspected drug smuggler, citing the potential for inhuman and degrading treatment at HMP Liverpool. This well publicised judgment illustrates the necessity of my FLF: reconceptualising prison regulation, for safer societies. It seeks to save lives and money, and reduce criminal reoffending. Over 10.74 million people are imprisoned globally. The growing transnational significance of detention regulation was signalled by the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture/OPCAT. Its 89 signatories, including the UK, must regularly examine treatment and conditions. The quality of prison life affects criminal reoffending rates, so the consequences of unsafe prisons are absorbed by our societies. Prison regulation is more urgent than ever. England and Wales' prisons are now less safe than at any point in recorded history, containing almost 83,000 prisoners: virtually all of whom will be released at some point. In 2016, record prison suicides harmed prisoners, staff and bereaved families, draining ~£385 million from public funds. Record prisoner self-harm was seen in 2017, then again in 2018. Criminal reoffending costs £15 billion annually. Deteriorating prison safety poses a major moral, social, economic and public health threat, attracting growing recognition. Reconceptualising prison regulation is a difficult multidisciplinary challenge. Regulation includes any activity seeking to steer events in prisons. Effective prison regulation demands academic innovation and sustained collaboration and implementation with practitioners from different sectors (e.g. public, voluntary), regulators, policymakers, and prisoners: from local to (trans)national levels. Citizen participation has become central to realising more democratic, sustainable public services but is not well integrated across theory-policy-practice. I will coproduce prison regulation with partners, including the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, voluntary organisations Safe Ground and the Prison Reform Trust, and (former) prisoners. This FLF examines three diverse case study countries: England and Wales, Brazil and Canada, developing multinational implications. This approach is ambitious and risky, but critical for challenging commonsensical beliefs. Interviews, focus groups, observation and creative methodologies will be used. There are three aims, to: i) theorise the (potential) participatory roles of prisoners and the voluntary sector in prison regulation ii) appraise the (normative) relationships between multisectoral regulators (e.g. public, voluntary) from local to (trans)national scales iii) co-produce (with multisectoral regulators), pilot, document and disseminate models of participatory, effective and efficient prison regulation in England and Wales (and beyond) - integrating multisectoral, multiscalar penal overseers and prisoners into regulatory theory and practice. This is an innovative study. Punishment scholars have paid limited attention to regulation. Participatory networks of (former) prisoners are a relatively new formation but rapidly growing in influence. Nobody has yet considered agencies like the Prisons Inspectorate and Ombudsman alongside voluntary sector organisations and participatory networks, nor their collective influences from local to transnational scales. Nobody has tried to work with all of these agencies to reconceptualise prison regulation and test it in practice. Findings will be developed, disseminated and implemented internationally. The research team will present findings and engage with diverse stakeholders and decision makers through interactive workshops (Parliament, London, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham), and multimedia outputs (e.g. infographics). This FLF has implications for prisons and detention globally, and broader relevance as a case study of participatory regulation of public services and policy translation.

Data description (abstract)

This is qualitative data collection of semi-structured interviews conducted between December 2019-October 2020 within a study that examined how the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (seek to) effect change in prisons following prisoner suicides and how death investigations could have more impact on prison policy and practice. The study ran from 2019-2021. Internationally, prisoner mortality rates are up to 50% above those in the community. Although prisoner deaths are frequent and have significant implications across a broad range of stakeholder groups, these harms are rarely acknowledged. We address this by examining how the PPO (seek to) effect change in prisons following prisoner suicides and how death investigations could have more impact on prison policy and practice from semi-structured interviews with multisectoral stakeholders. Within this project, 46 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with multisectoral stakeholders: 17 PPO staff (who work across England and Wales from a base in London), 8 prison Governing Governors (representing 8 prisons), 11 regional SCGLs (representing all but two regions nationally) and 9 Coroners (who represent 9 of the 92 separate coroners’ jurisdictions in England and Wales) and bereaved family members (n=1). These professional groups have received limited consideration in previous research despite International laws, e.g. Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, requiring that all deaths in state detention are independently investigated. In England and Wales, prisoner deaths are externally investigated by at least the police, PPO and Coroner. These police, ombudsman and coroner investigations can be very disruptive and cause uncertainty and anxiety for all involved. The research demonstrates how the harms of prisoner deaths and investigations are broadly unacknowledged and radiate widely. We sought to stimulate both i) more substantive support for all those caught up in prison suicides and death investigations and ii) reconsideration of how prisoner deaths are investigated. For data storage and analysis purposes, the participants were divided into four categories: 1) Prison and Probation Ombudsman staff (PPO); 2) Governing Governors (Governors); 3) Safer Custody Group Leads (SCGLs); 4) Coroners (coroners); 5) bereaved family members (prisoner family). Because of the sensitivity of this research 3 SCGL transcripts have been omitted due to the participants still being identifiable following transcript anonymisation. Further information about the project and links to publications are available on the University of Nottingham SafeSoc project webpage https://www.safesoc.co.uk

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