On 6 July 2009, an inquest jury recorded a highly critical verdict of neglect in the death of Godfrey Moyo in HMP Belmarsh. Twenty-five-year-old Godfrey Moyo, a Zimbabwean, died while on remand at the Category A Belmarsh prison on 3 January 2005 in the early hours of the morning after suffering an epileptic fit. Godfrey’s
Theme: Alternative voices on integration
Segregating foreign national prisoners
Government plans to concentrate foreign national prisoners in a few prisons, currently being implemented under a secret agreement, are likely to lead to segregation and exacerbate prisoners’ isolation. A restricted but recently leaked document, the ‘Service Level Agreement between the Ministry of Justice, the National Offenders Management Service (NOMS) and the UK Border Agency to
The ordeal of Kessie Moyo
The refusal of a visa to attend the inquest of her son’s death added to the grief and distress of a bereaved mother. On 3 January 2005, Godfrey Moyo, a 25-year-old Zimbabwean who suffered from epilepsy, died at Belmarsh prison after being restrained face down outside his cell by prison officers. The inquest into his
Remembering Habib Ullah – one year on
On 3 July 2009 the Justice for Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah campaign held a vigil and public meeting to mark the first anniversary of his death. The vigil outside High Wycombe police station from 3-7pm was attended by over sixty people, giving the campaign the opportunity to draw public attention to the death. The highlight came
Family challenge IPCC decision
The High Court has recently turned down an application for judicial review of an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) decision to downgrade an investigation into the death in police custody of Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah. Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah died on 3 July 2008 after a stop and search by police officers in High Wycombe (read an
Peaceful protest punished
A culture of fear seems to be re-establishing itself at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre (IRC), where a recent report reveals that peaceful protests about detention have led to those concerned being transferred to prison. The latest annual report of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), published in March 2009,[1] reveals that in April 2008 a group
PR and the selling of border controls
Below Jon Burnett analyses a recent Sky TV series, UK Border Force, which portrayed the work of the UK Border Agency. In 2008, the Home Office paid £400,000 to Steadfast Television,[1] an independent production company, to help fund a documentary for Sky TV on UK border control. The programme, according to Sky, was ‘a revealing
‘Our parents did not come to this country to bury their children’
Below we reproduce a statement from the brother and sister of Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah, who died after being arrested by police in High Wycombe on 3 July 2008. ‘It has now been almost nine months since Habib/Paps, our brother died in High Wycombe whilst being arrested during a routine drugs search. No one knows what
David Oluwale – 40 years on
This week marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of David Oluwale at the hands of police officers in Leeds. Forty years ago, the body of David Oluwale was pulled from the River Aire in Leeds on 4 May 1969, after a sustained campaign by two police officers, who were convicted two years later for
Is the writing on the wall? (Not if the police have their way)
A report on a recent incident in Birmingham where a ‘Free Gaza’ mural was removed by the council at the request of the police. A pithy phrase, an insult, wry political commentary and, just sometimes, real art appear on public display almost as a matter of course on the walls of any urbanised society. The