ONE DEATH A WEEK IN POLICE CUSTODY

People are dying in police custody at the rate of more than one a week, the
Home Office revealed yesterday. It confirmed that 380 people had died after
being arrested by the police in the space of six years.

Among the alarming findings in the government research was the fact that 47
per cent of the deaths of black people in custody occurred when a police
officer was present. Only seven per cent of deaths of white detainees were
linked to police actions.

The report, released by Home Office minister Alun Michael, found that people
in Metropolitan Police custody were seven times more likely to die than
those arrested by other forces in England and Wales.

Its release coincided with a decision by the Appeal Court yesterday not to
hold a new inquest into the death of Wayne Douglas, which sparked race riots
in Brixton, London, in 1995.

Lord Woolf, Master of the Rolls, said he believed the verdict of accidental
death would remain the same. The Douglas family said it had been "denied
justice".

The Home Office report comes five years after the death of Joy Gardner, who
died after being bound and gagged with 13ft of sticking tape, by police
officers who were attempting to deport her as an illegal immigrant.

Yesterday, as Mrs Gardner's mother handed in a submission to the inquiry
into the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, it emerged that orange
paint had been daubed over the memorial headstone at her grave in Enfield,
north London.

The Gardner and Douglas cases were among 277 deaths in custody between
January 1990 and December 1996 studied for the Home Office report, called
Deaths in Police Custody: Learning the Lessons.

It found that 34 per cent of deaths were as a result of "deliberate self
harm" and 29 per cent were due to the detainee's previous medical condition.
Drug abuse was a factor in nine per cent of deaths and alcohol in 19 per
cent. Police actions were a factor in six per cent of cases.

Of those who died, 92 per cent were men, 87 per cent were white and 72 per
cent were unemployed. Three-quarters were aged between 20 and 49 and four
out of five lived in the police force area where they died.

The study uncovered a number of ethnically-related differences in the
deaths. Of the black people who died in custody, 71 per cent had been
restrained on arrest compared to 26 per cent of the whites who died.

The black people who died were more likely to have been recorded as being
violent and were more likely to have taken drugs, according to the reports
compiled by police investigating officers.

Mr Michael said: "I hope the study will help inform the debate and
re-inforce the message that officers should exercise care when restraining
someone who acts violently, or who they suspect might have taken drugs,
whatever their ethnicity."

The study called for officers to be given improved medical training after
finding that on numerous occasions serious head injuries were interpreted as
drunkenness.

Some of those who died were found to have illegal drugs or medication in
their possession, having not been properly searched.

Closed circuit television is of only limited value in tackling the problem,
and 23 deaths occurred despite the presence of cameras in the cells.

The researchers also called on forces to consider setting up detoxification
centres, which can put drunken detainees under low level medical
supervision. Only a handful of such centres exist in Britain.

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"