Hiroshima Day 6th August 2012

Father George Zabelka, who was the American Catholic Chaplain to the USAF bomber crews who dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Ngasakisi said,
            "to fail to speak to the utter moral corruption of the mass destruction of civilians was to fail as a Christian and as a priest. As I seeit, Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened in and to a world  and a Christian Church that has asked for it-- that has prepared the moral consciousness of humanity to do and justify the unthinkable. I was there, and I'll tell you that the operative moral atmosphere in the Church in relation to mass bombing of enemy civilians was totally indifferent, silent, corrupt at best; at worst it was religiously supportive of these activities by blessing those who did them.I like the pilot of the Nagasaki plane, was heir to a Christianity that had for1700 years engaged in revenge, murder,torture,the pursuit of power and prerogative violence- allinthe name of the Lord. Jesus authorised none of his followersto substitute violence for love- not me, or you; not Jimmy Carter nor the Pope, nor the Vatican Council or even an ecumenical Council---Christians the world over should be taught that to love their enemies is not optional."

(see Altrenatives To War    Owen Hardwicke     page57)

Pauline Campbell

It is four years today since Pauline died. Her campaign began when her daughter Sarah was one of six women who died in the notorious prison Styal between 2002and 2003. grave concerns were expressed at that time by Prison Minister, Paul Goggins.He undertook a review of vulnerable women in the Criminal Justice System. Baroness Corston was to be responsible for this  review.It reported its findings and recommendations in March 2007.Radical changes in the treatment of women in prison were urgently needed.
I had accompanied Pauline on 5 May 2008 to a court hearing in Macclesfield where the date for a three day trial was fixed to take place in Knutsford crown court this trial was subsequently called off. Pauline sent me a copy of a report that she had put on line on 3 May2008-- Criminal Trial Abandoned As CPS Comes Under Fire Referring to the Corston Report this is what she said "Demonstrations will continue because where there is injustice there will be protest. The unjust sentencing of vulnerable women; their suffering and deaths - that is the injustice. The way forward is to implement the recommendations of the Corston report but Ministers ' feeble response (December 2007) was to say the recommendations  couldn't be funded, yet it seems money is available to build three new Titan prisons. Forty one women prisoners have died from self inflicted injuries since my daughter's death in January 2003- unless reform is introduced more women will die.""
Five years after Corston  Clive Chatterton who went to Styal as governor at the end of a thirty five year career in men's prisons wrote in the Observer as recently as February 11th 2012 that he was scarred by his experience of running Styal. Nick Hardwick , Chief Inspector of Prisons confirmed this saying he found the plight of women there more shocking and distressing than anything he had ever seen. In the Independent 1 May also 2012 he thought the state of women's jails shames Britain!

Deaths in custody

As I listened to Deborah Coles of Inquest, speaking about two more deaths of children in custody on BBC Womens Hour this morning I thought "Will things never change?"
Since 1990 thirty three children have died. It is ten years since Joseph Scholes died in Stoke Heath
Young Offenders Institution. His family is still grieving. At Joseph's inquest the coroner called for an inquiry. This morning that was one of the issues brought up by Deborah. There has never been an inquiry into the death of a child who has died in the care of state.
It is obvious from evidence given by reports and by evidence at coroners inquests that young people are being sent to dreadful places run by poorly trained staff without the right resources. It is beyond belief that in the twenty first century restraning techniques are being used by staff and causing children to die.I think that restaint is a euphamism for torture.
It would seem that nobody really cares about failing these children.Locking them away is cruel and not the aswer.

Feminist Webs

It was with great pleasure that I took part I a residential weekend last Saturday 10^th September at a youth centre near Oldham. The weekend was sponsored by Children, England and Children’s Workforce Development Council. The weekend was part of a year long project. At the end of the project the young women involved will produce an exhibition in the Peoples Museum Manchester and also publish a book about themselves and their journey throughout the year.

The two themes they considered over the weekend were “feminism” and” resilience”. They listened to the stories of three resilient women of today, Pauline Pearce who confronted young people looting in the recent riots in Hackney, Helen John, one of the thirty six women who walked from Cardiff to Green ham in 1981 and who has set up a Peace Camp earlier this month outside RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire to protest against the use of Drones and Vedanta Shiva who is striving for a better deal for the starving poor of India. The young women showed a lively interest and a grasp of what is happening in the world around them that I am sure would have astonished Mr. Gove.
They were members of three separate Youth Clubs and came together with a real spirit of friendship and tolerance. Their demeanour, thoughtfulness and eagerness to learn defied any description of feral youth. I am eighty two years old and I found being with them inspiring and a privilege.

3rd Anniversary of Pauline Campbell's Death

“Remembering Pauline Campbell died May 15 2008 Suffragette for Penal Reform.”

It is three years since Pauline died so tragically. It is difficult to imagine what she would have made of the controversy going on today about the overcrowding of prisons. There is no doubt that she would have welcomed any reduction in numbers. But she wouldn’t have been happy if this went hand in hand with fewer resources to put right the appalling conditions which exist in many of our prisons.

Nothing much seems to change where children are concerned. As late as April this year Dr Margaret Atkinson, Children’s Commissioner, called on Britain to outlaw the use of physical violence on children in custody. But yet again we wonder – when will action be taken?

Pauline’s voice is sorely missed.

Remembering Chernobyl 25 Years On

Genny Bove and I held a stall at the Cross in Chester on Tuesday 26^th April 2011 to remind people of the accident that happened at Chernobyl on that day 25 years ago. It was even more poignant this year following the explosion at Fukushima, Japan. The threat of nuclear disaster is still the most immediate threat to the people and the planet in this the 21^st century. It is staggering that this government, for political reasons, can even contemplate a new generation of nuclear power stations and the replacement of the nuclear missile system.

As long ago as 1978 a small group of dedicated people led by Bridget Gubbins set up the Druridge Bay Campaign. Druridge Bay is a beauty spot on the Northumberland.

Coast and was threatened by the building of a nuclear power station. The common thread that brought the campaigners together was concern for the planet and the need to expose the dangers of nuclear power. No matter how much government ministers felt they were serving the national or global interest by building nuclear power stations, the campaigners could clearly see the threat of radio active waste (deadly for tens or hundreds of thousands of years), of radio active cores being cemented up on our beaches for at least 135 years, the ever present risks of accidents and the fear of living next to an outwardly innocuous building with deadly contents inside. Bridget’s book “Power at Bay” was written at the end of this incredible campaign.

I think it is worth noting that Ronald Sampson wrote an article in Resurgence Nov-Dec 1979. He says “the response of the Thatcher administration to the horrifying warning from Harrisburg (Three Mile Island) has been to announce plans for the construction of a similar reactor at Druridge Bay, barely 20 miles from Newcastle on Tyne. Arrogant contempt for people, their opinions and their elemental safety could not be more brutally expressed. The government also announced plans for drilling operations at 11 different sites in England, Scotland and Wales to find deep accommodation for nuclear wastes. But they hasten to reassure us they will not be needed until the 21^st century.”

It is the 21^st century. Is the government to be allowed, along with the nuclear industry to play fast and loose with the future of our children and our grand children?

Adam Rickwood's Inquest

Saturday, 12 March 2011

Adam Rickwood Inquest

I n 2004 Helena Kennedy wrote in her book “Just Law” p.292;

“Despite the advent of the Youth Justice Board with its supposed ‘child centred’ approach, and the warm words from the Prison Service about child protection, the conditions experienced by thousands of children sent to prison each year should shame us all. Recent reports from Anne Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, are shocking. On page 293 Baroness Kennedy says the Prison Service we are told complies with the ‘principles’ of the Children's Act rather as, according to George Bush, Gantanamo Bay complies with the principles of the Geneva Convention.”

Ever since I had spent a day at the week long inquest of Joseph Scholes 2002 I continued to be concerned about conditions in children’s jails. The coroner had recommended that an inquiry should be held into Joseph's death. No inquiry was held. The practice of restraining children is barbaric. I read more and more damning reports about conditions and treatment.
In January this year the second inquest for Adam Rickwood who died in Hassockfield Secure Training Centre in August 2007 was held in Easington, Co Durham. Adam was fourteen. At his first inquest the coroner said that Adam had taken his own life. His mother struggled for six years and finally this second inquest took place. That jury unanimously condemned the running of Hassockfield as an unlawful regime with serious system failure in relation to the use of physical control in care. The jury criticised the Youth Justice Board. (How on earth could this sort of thing have developed? Secure Training Centres were set up as places of excellence.)
I had written to the Prime Minister in 2007 when I heard that wider powers of restraint were going to be given to so-called “care” officers. My letter was passed to the Ministry of Justice and a reply explained that the Secure Training Rules set up in 1998 had been amended and that anyway, they were not to be used except as a last resort. During the two days I spent at Adam’s second inquest it was crystal clear that these rules were not being followed before or at his death. In July 2007 Gareth Myatt had died at Oakhill while being restrained. It beggars belief that in 2008 Anne Owers Chief Inspector of Prisons called for Oakhill to be closed because of the staggeringly high level of force being used by the staff.
How dare we go on betraying our most vulnerable children? They need more than these overcrowded, under resourced Secure Training Centres with such poorly trained staff.

Posted by Joan Meredith at Saturday, March 12, 2011 0 comments

United Family and Friends

Today I joined the demonstration organised in London by the United Family and Friends. We kept to the ritual followed by the previous annual demonstrations. They take place on the last Saturday in October. We gather at Trafalgar Square with banners and walk slowly down to Downing Street. I still have the banner that belonged to Pauline Campbell commemorating the death of her daughter Sarah who died in Styal prison, January 2003. Since Pauline's own death in 2008, I have taken the banner to London joining others grieving for the men and women and children who have died in custody. Today's demonstration was very moving. Families took it in turn to tell their story as they stood outside the gates of Downing St. A letter that was to be handed in to the Prime Mionister was read out. The police refused to open the gate and accept the letter. A copy was posted on the gate and another will be delivered by post. All this took place with a policeman with his machine gun at the ready on the other side of the gate. The protestors voiced their disapproval. So much for demoocracy and our right to peaceful protest.

Pauline Campbell

It is so sad to remember that Pauline died two years ago today. During her brief and passionate campaign she opposed the injustice meted out to vulnerable young women. Her aim was to abolish prisons which she could clearly see did not work. They are used simply as a dumping ground for the sick and mentally ill who are abandoned by a society with no time for them.

What would Pauline have made of the outcome of this election? The present government is made up of rich privately educated white men. There has already been talk of building more prisons.Pauline did not put her trust in politicians but preferred to work with anyone and everyone to shine a light on the darkness of our present prison system.

Our Children

Three or four years ago I read Margaret Humphrey's book "Empty Cradles"She described the mass transfer of little children in our orphanages to the Commonwealth countries. I was appalledat the callousness and the lack of regard for the future welfareof these our children,that successive government showed The book haunted me and when I was next on trial in Helensburgh for demonstrating against theTrident nuclear submarine I waved the book at the magistrate to prove that politicians do not neccessarily act in the interests of the citizen and for some reason in this country almost certainly not in the intrests of of our children.
We have more children in prison than any other European country.Report after report comes out damning our Young Offenders Instituitions now all being run privately for profit. Not one public inquiry has ever been made into the death of a child occurring in one of them even though the death might have been caused by restraint.Now Mr.Aynsley-Green has concerns about the imprisonment of children in the immigratinon detention centre at Yarl'sWood where some mother's are currently on hunger strike.Even the Church's are calling for better treatment for the children.
Itis good that Gordon Brown apologised last week for what happened to our orphans in the past but surely lessons have been learned.But some of our most vulnerable children and their families are suffering now and action shold be taken now. An apology in the distant future is not enough.

Children, prisons and forced migration.

I have been on an interesting holiday in the USA. I visited Maine staying a week on Peaks Island and a week on Mount Desert Island.It was the holiday of a lifetime and I certainly warmed to the gentle ,friendly people that I met wherever I went.

It was depressing coming home to the on going litany of how we as a country fail our children. In 2002 I read Margaret Humphrey's book,"Empty cradles".I was profoundly disturbed to learn how the government had connived with the churches and other agencies in emptying our orphanages, shipping children off to Commonwealth countries without ever following up on the treatment they received once they got there. Ed Ball, Minister for children was reported in recent newspapers as saying "this was indeed a stain on our society" An apology is to be made by Gordon Brown in the New Year for this forced migration of our children and for the suffering that was meted out to them

Perhaps Ed Ball would also look responsibly into a present day stain on our society? Many of our children are locked up unnecessarily in prisons routinely condemned by Anne Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, as squalid, insanitary and staffed largely by inadequately trained staff.

Hiroshima day

Four of us decided to have a stall at the Cross in Chester on 6th August in remembrance of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima1945. We gave out prepared leaflets and invited passers by to sign the CND petition asking the government to agree to a Convention in 2020 and to ensure the cancellation of all preparations to renew the Trident nuclear weapons system. We collected over 87 signatures and what was so important the interest shown was supportive and informed.
Meanwhile on 17th August five activists from the Trident Ploughshares Coulport disarmament camp entered the most important military site in Britain, the nuclear submarine base at Faslane also near Glasgow, by simply walking through the main gate.