Corporate homicide law extended to prisons and police cells
Guardian repost | 01.09.2011 07:44 | Anti-racism | Policing | Birmingham
In the 10 years between 1999 and 2009, 333 people died in or following police custody, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Ministry of Justice figures show that last year there were 58 self-inflicted deaths among prisoners in England and Wales.
But from 1 September a clause in the Corporate Homicide Act 2007 will come into place extending the law to cover all deaths in police custody suites, prison cells, mental health detention facilities, young offenders institutions and immigration suites. It will also cover Ministry of Defence institutions.
Prosecutions will take place if it can be proved that the way the facilities are managed or organised caused a death and amounted to a breach of the duty of care. The penalty for organisations convicted is a fine with no maximum limit. Crown Prosecution Service guidance says that the fines are likely to be in the many millions of pounds.
Deaths of people being transported to and from immigration detention centres – such as that of Jimmy Mubenga – will also be covered by the Corporate Homicide Act. But in the case of Mubenga, who died while being restrained on a British Airways plane to Angola last year, the private firm hired to transport him cannot be prosecuted under the Act because the law is not retrospective.
Guardian repost
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