PRESS RELEASE

13 September 2002

INQUEST OPENS INTO DEATH OF 16 YEAR OLD IN FELTHAM YOUNG OFFENDER INSTITUTION

Monday 16th September 2002 at 10am
Hammersmith and Fulham Coroners Court, 25 Bagley's Lane, London SW6.
Before HM Coroner for West London Alison Thompson

Sixteen-year-old Kevin Jacobs was found hanging from the bars in his single cell in HM Young Offenders' Institute Feltham in the early hours of 29th September 2001. The inquest into his death begins on Monday 16th September at 10am and is expected to last 5 days.

During Kevin's young life he suffered a horrendous history of institutional neglect. At the time of his arrest and sentence Kevin was the subject of a care order and the responsibility of Lambeth social services. He was remanded to Feltham on 3 July 2001 and made the subject of a six-month detention training order on 19 July 2001. Kevin Jacobs was on any view an exceptionally vulnerable and "at risk" young boy.

During the three months that Kevin spent at Feltham, he self-harmed on numerous occasions including a serious attempt at hanging himself to the point of unconsciousness two weeks before his death. He had also been a victim of bullying. Two days before his death Kevin had been discharged from the Health Care Centre and placed back in his unsafe cell on the induction wing at Feltham. A civilian jailer was checking him once per hour. In the early hours of 29 September 2001 he was found hanging by a sheet from the cell bars.

Since the early 1990s INQUEST has worked with the families of many of the young men who have taken their own lives in Feltham. The inquests into their deaths have raised serious questions about the regimes and conditions within Feltham and the identification, treatment and care of vulnerable prisoners. They also raise the wider question about the use of prison for disturbed and damaged children and the failure to provide a safe custodial environment.

The death of Kevin Jacobs raises a number of serious concerns that need to be explored at the inquest:

• Kevin's allocation to Feltham (as opposed to secure accommodation) despite his well documented and exceptional vulnerability;
• The role and responsibilities of the London Borough of Lambeth in whose care Kevin had been since an early age;
• The failure of those who made decisions in relation to Kevin to avail themselves of necessary background information;
• Kevin's discharge from the prison Health Care Centre and placement in an unsafe, single occupied cell with easily accessible ligature points ;
• The identification, supervision and support of "at risk" prisoners;
• The standard of medical and psychiatric assessments in Feltham;
• Communication issues between non-medical and medical staff at Feltham;
• Communication issues between Feltham staff and external agencies with responsibility for children;
• The regime and conditions for juvenile prisoners;
• Whether lessons are learnt from previous deaths.

Fiona Murphy of Bhatt Murphy solicitors and leading human rights barrister and INQUEST Lawyers Group member Tim Owen QC are representing the family.

Interviews will be given at the conclusion of the inquest.