UFFC procession

I remember marching through the snow and blizzard in Wolverhampton’s town centre in early 1987 protesting at the death of Clinton McCurbin, a young Black man, who had died as a result of being restrained by two cops.

At the UFFC procession yesterday stewards were handing out leaflets with the names of people who have died in custody in the UK during the past 40 years. Around 2,533 have died whilst in the “care” of the cops, prisons, secure hospitals and immigration detention centres. List isn’t complete. On that list was the name of Clinton McCurbin.

Twenty years on we are still marching for justice for the people who have died in the “care” of the state. Janet Alder spoke about the death of her brother, Christopher Alder. Family members spoke about Leon Patterson and Sean Rigg. This is the tenth year of this procession. I saw a banner remembering Joy Gardner, placards remembering Joseph Scholes and the family of Jean Charles de Menezes walking alongside his banner.

I attended last year and recall Pauline Campbell holding the banner that remembered Sarah. She too spoke about Sarah and the way she died. And that justice was being denied. Janet Alder mentioned Pauline in her speech yesterday. The loss was palpable along with her vibrant and dynamic spirit missing. The banner remembering Sarah was being carried by friends and supporters of Pauline, and it was good to speak Pauline’s friend Joan. I spoke briefly to the family of Sean Rigg’s family.

Walking from Trafalgar Square to Downing Street to lay flowers at the gate (it is appalling that the families aren’t allowed to walk through the gate and place the flowers outside 10 Downing Street!!). Walking along I remembered women I had known who had died through neglect while in the “care” of the state. Wasted lives and the attitude shown by the state seemed to say their lives were meaningless. Lynne, died in a psychiatric hospital in 1989 and Monika died in the special hospitals regime in 2000. I knew them both well. Their deaths were seen a tragic loss but no more. Or as one mental health professional responded to my shock of Lynne’s death: “Life’s a bitch and then you die, Louise”. That callous comment was made 20 odd years ago and it is still itched in my mind!

 No responsibility or accountability, no light shed on the actual events and circumstances as to how and why Lynne and Monika died. Just cover-ups and lies.

The procession is in silence, no chants just silence. I did feel overwhelmed and engulfed by my own personal grief, sadness and loss but it felt like collective grief. People coming together to remember people personal to them who have died at the hands of the state and to fight for justice. To fight for remembrance. When we got to to the gates of Downing Street that was when the chanting started. Anger at the justice denied, the cover-ups, lies and constant stonewalling: “No justice, No Peace” summed it up.

Majority of people who have died in police custody are Black. It is coming up to10 years since the Macpherson report and institutional state racism is alive as ever. And issues such as using police cells as “places of safety” (a contradiction if there ever was!) under section 136 of the MH Act. The Annual General Meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health is meeting in early November to discuss Places of Safety? Avoiding the use of police cells for people detained under Section 136 the Mental Health Act.  

People need real answers, responsibility, accountability and transparency and democracy. People want to know how and why their loved ones died along with what will happen to the individual(s) who have caused the death. Put simply, justice. How many more people have to die?