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Unlocking the Truth describes the experiences of families bereaved by deaths in custody from the time of death to the conclusion of the investigation and inquest and situates them within the political, recent historical and legal context. Thoroughly researched and extensively referenced, the report:
Describes the issues that have emerged since the early 1980s which have shaped public, family and state perceptions about deaths in custody. Presents families’ experiences in their own words.
Makes extensive recommendations and presents families’ suggestions for changes in practice. Demonstrates how all agencies involved following a death in custody have a crucial role to play in supporting bereaved people. Shows how current systems are failing through basic lack of provision and poor implementation of existing protocols. Argues that scrutiny, criticism and proposals for reform of the way the state deals with deaths in custody is a crucial contribution to the health of its democracy. Makes two key overarching recommendations that argue for extensive improvements following the conclusion of the investigation and inquest to improve accountability, learning and preventative action, and for the creation of a Standing Commission on Custodial Deaths.Unlocking the Truth is essential reading for researchers, policy makers, penal reformers, family liaison officers from the police, Prison Service and those working for the independent investigation bodies, human rights specialists, legal professionals, coroners, voluntary sector bereavement agencies, bereavement counsellors, academics, students and all those with an interest the mechanisms that follow contentious deaths. The report was made possible by a grant from the Nuffield Foundation.
An executive summary which gives an overview of the report's contents and also includes details of the two key proposals and eighty recommendations made in the book can be downloaded from the link below.
Paperback 160 pages ISBN 9 780 9468 5821 7
"Hopefully this book will prevent future deaths in prison and affecting other families, and it may be that someone now will take notice of what is going on in prisons and improve them, because they definitely need to be improved... This book is a good thing because it highlights the shortcomings of the Home Office." Helen and Anthony Redding, parents of Anthony Redding Jr., who died in Brinsford Young Offender Institution in February 2001.
Helen Shaw and Deborah Coles are co-directors of INQUEST
Unlocking the Truth can be ordered securely online using the
button below for £10+postage and packing:
Click here to download the executive summary of UnlockingThe Truth (PDF, 68KB)
Click here to read the press release for UnlockingThe Truth (PDF, 68KB)
An order form to buy Unlocking The Truth when paying by cheque can be found here (PDF, 53KB)
