ABSTRACT
From 1983, with Kathryn Chadwick, I continued my earlier research on deaths in custody. We attended inquests, acquired transcripts and interviewed bereaved families. It soon became apparent that the inquest system was an inadequate and inappropriate forum for settling controversial cases, not least because the coroner’s court is one of inquiry rather than liability. Yet for many families it was a court of ‘last resort’. While the research focused in part on deaths resulting from the application of restraint during arrest or in custody, of particular concern were instances of people taking their own lives in circumstances that might have contributed to their deaths. In 1985 we were contacted by Jimmy Boyle and Sarah Boyle, co-directors
of the Gateway Exchange in Edinburgh. The Gateway Project worked with young people, particularly those with drug and alcohol dependencies, and on prison reform issues. Over a four-year period seven young men, several of whom were children, had taken their own lives at Glenochil Detention complex. Initially we could not gain access to the complex, but we interviewed children and young people who had been inside, gathered depositions from the Fatal Accident Inquiries (the Scottish equivalent of the inquest) and monitored the Scottish Office Inquiry. Soon after the Inquiry report was published we visited the complex and observed the regimes in operation. The research contributed to the book In the Arms of the Law, published in 1987. In November 1986, following a rooftop protest at Peterhead Prison in
north-east Scotland, the Gateway Exchange held a series of public meetings under the Scottish Prison Service motto ‘Dare to Care’. The meetings heard detailed allegations of brutality from prisoners’ letters, former prisoners and prisoners’ families. Prison protests soon extended to other Scottish prisons, escalating to hostage taking and a further rooftop protest at Peterhead. Along with Joe Sim and Paula Skidmore, I was commissioned by Gateway to conduct research into the protests as part of an independent inquiry. Research access to the prison was denied but we took written evidence from 45 prisoners in addition to prisoners’ letters sent to Gateway between 1984 and 1986. Prison managers and officers used threats and
intimidation to prevent prisoners participating in the research and working with the researchers. Despite these inhibitions, many prisoners wrote detailed, verifiable accounts of their experiences. In November 1987 the Gateway Independent Inquiry published its
report, The Roof Comes Off. It made 17 recommendations including the closure of Peterhead. In 1991 we published the book Prisons Under Protest. Despite refuting the research at the time, a senior member of the Scottish Prison Service later stated that the research had been taken seriously, contributing significantly to long-term, fundamental reform within the Scottish Prison Service. He endorsed the research findings but stated he would deny our conversation should we ‘go public’. From 1988 until 2003 I organised annual research field trips for my students to Scottish prisons and young offenders’ institutions.
