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Prisoner becomes latest woman to die behind bars
Campaigners set for new protest after inmate is found hanged
A WOMAN has died in Holloway prison from self-inflicted wounds – the sixth female to die in a British prison this year.
Marie Cox, 34 was found hanging in her cell at 7.20am on Saturday, June 30.
Staff immediately attempted resuscitation, and paramedics attended but Ms Cox failed to recover and was pronounced dead at 8am.
A spokesman for the Prison Service said: “Every death in custody is a tragedy, and our sympathies are with the family of Marie Cox at this time. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation.”
Ms Cox was awaiting sentencing for the offence of trespassing with intent.
A demonstration will take place this Monday at 1pm at the prison in Parkhurst Road.
It will be led by Pauline Campbell, mother of Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, 18, who died in Styal prison in 2003.
Mrs Campbell said: “Marie Cox’s tragic death is a glaring reminder that women continue to be detained in prisons that cannot meet their human needs.
“Thirty-eight women prisoners have died since my daughter’s death in 2003. There has been an appalling failure to learn lessons.”
To date, Pauline Campbell has been arrested 14 times, and is currently awaiting criminal trial at North Avon Magistrates’ Court following a demonstration outside Eastwood Park prison.
Mrs Campbell added that despite the fact that “crime has fallen by 35 per cent since 1997” Labour has presided over a “shameful” increase in the number of women sent to prison.
She added: “In 1997, when Labour took office, 2,629 women were locked up. There are now 4,390 women and girls in prison.”
Hampstead broadcaster Joan Bakewell last year called for the majority of women prisoners to be released from Holloway jail.
Ms Bakewell from Primrose Hill said that females were in prison mainly for minor offences and should instead be rehabilitated within the community.
She also suggested that releasing women from Holloway would free up more space for male offenders, on more serious violent offences, from overcrowded Pentonville prison.
Ms Bakewell said an unpublished analysis of those in Holloway prison gives a clear picture of largely young women – 62 per cent were under 30 – “rattling around in disorganised lives at the bottom of the social heap”.
Fifty per cent have experienced or witnessed sexual abuse, 73 per cent had used illegal drugs, 61 per cent had a least one child and 32 per cent had been put on formal suicide watch while in prison.
Some 42 women have committed suicide since 2002 and many others cut themselves. |
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