Mental Health

Tippa Naphtali

Families of men with mental health issues who died in custody welcome new report

Thomas Orchard
Thomas Orchard

source: ITV News
published: 30 October 2017

The families of two men with mental health issues who died in police custody has welcomed a report into how vulnerable people should be treated by emergency services. 32-year-old Thomas Orchard died in police custody in Exeter in 2012 and 25-year-old James Herbert died at Yeovil Police Station seven years ago.

The report into deaths in custody was ordered by Theresa May when she was the Home Secretary. It has stressed mentally ill people should never be held in cells.

Thomas Orchard suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and his family say being held in Exeter’s Heavitree Road Police Station made his condition worse. Before reaching the station Mr Orchard was handcuffed and bundled into a van. Moments before falling unconscious, a restraint was wrapped around his head.

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Tippa Naphtali

‘Impartiality’ concern raised over death in custody inquiry

Olaseni Lewis
Olaseni Lewis

source: The Voice Online
published: 6 May 2016

The senior coroner in the investigation into the death Olaseni Lewis has flagged up concerns over the impartiality of staff at the mental health facility where the 23-year-old was restrained by police officers.

Selena Lynch, senior coroner for south London, said staff at Bethlem Royal Hospital could feel unable to speak openly about the death of Lewis because their legal representation is being paid for by their employer, reported the Croydon Advertiser.

IT graduate, Lewis, was restrained face down for a total of 40 minutes, in two prolonged periods, by up to 11 officers in 2010 at the Kent facility run by South London and Maudsley (SLaM).

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4WardEverUK

How to decolonise mental health services

David 'Rocky' Bennett
David ‘Rocky’ Bennett

source: openDemocracy
published: 5 April 2016

Before David ‘Rocky’ Bennett’s death in a psychiatric unit 18 years ago, he sent a letter to the nurse director, pointing out there were no black staff members. He wrote:

“There are over half a dozen black boys in this clinic. I don’t know if you have realised that there are no Africans on your staff at the moment”.

Bennett died while being held down by four staff members at a psychiatric unit after a violent altercation with another patient and a nurse. Looking at the circumstances around his untimely death, it’s clear his blackness was threatening to staff members. He had been using the mental health for at least a decade, yet his needs as a black Rastafarian were not being met.

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