Human Rights

When the state takes away a person’s liberty, it assumes full responsibility for protecting their human rights. The most fundamental of these is the right to life. Each year, however, many people die in custody. This report examines the causes of deaths in custody, and considers what may be done to prevent these deaths, and to better protect the right to life, and other human rights, of vulnerable people held in the custody of the state. The report begins by considering the human rights standards which apply. Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees the right to life and places duties on the state to take steps to prevent deaths of people in detention, and to establish
independent investigations into deaths in custody. The freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment also protects detained people from violence or serious neglect. These rights must be guaranteed, not through excessive control, but in the context of a system which also respects rights to privacy, personal identity and physical integrity.
The report assesses the scale of the problem, and the numbers of people dying in each form of state detention. It looks at the wider system in which these deaths occur, and concludes that measures to reduce deaths in custody are being implemented within a system where there are many acutely vulnerable people detained, especially in prison, who simply should not be there. Overcrowding in the prison system further hampers efforts to reduce deaths in custody. The principal reason for the increase in the prison population is sentencing practice, and the report considers the availability and recourse to alternatives to prison for vulnerable offenders, in light of the Article 2 right to life.
In the long-term, increased resources and a reduction in the use of imprisonment is needed to address the problem of deaths in custody. However, significant improvements can be made within the context of the present system. The report considers risk assessment of detainees, especially on admission to custody. It also assesses the provision of physical and mental healthcare in detention, and the human rights implications of inadequate healthcare. The report stresses the importance of maintaining a standard of healthcare equivalent to that available in the community. The provision of adequate treatment for drug and alcohol addiction in detention is essential in order to protect the rights to life and to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment. The report also raises concerns about the detention of mentally ill people in inappropriate forms of detention, whether in prison, in police cells, or in immigration removal centres.

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• Human Rights Act - An Introduction 322k
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