Juliet Lyon, former IAPDC Chair, publishes her end of term report

In the report’s foreword, Juliet writes:

“Loss of liberty should never result in loss of life. There is no such thing as an acceptable death toll in places of detention. This is the case despite significantly higher levels of risk and vulnerability amongst people who are held in prison or police custody or detained under immigration powers or Mental Health Act legislation compared to those in the general population of England and Wales. Instead, there is a clear and specific human rights obligation for government to keep people safe in custody and for ministers and their officials to take active steps to protect lives.”

The report highlights the Panel’s key achievements during the second half of Juliet’s tenure, from September 2019 to January 2023. The Panel has continued to work extensively with Ministers, officials and other partners to produce influential advice, and has increased its role in shaping the work of the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody. The Panel continues to influence cross-governmental policy and practice.

Work the Panel has undertaken includes:

• Pioneering the introduction of a Safety Impact Assessment within MoJ and HMPPS
• Developing guidelines for immigration removal centres on the prevention of deaths in detention
• Championing a zero-tolerance approach to deaths at the point of arrest, during and following police contact
• Securing reforms to the compassionate release process in prisons
• Producing innovative statistical reporting which for the first time reveals rates of deaths across all areas of custody

Read the Chair’s end of term report here.