The Sylvester family are still fighting for justice all pictures: Sarah Booker
Since 1990 there have been 1,854 deaths in police custody or following contact with the police. Many more people died inside prisons and mental health institutions. A new exhibition gives a powerful voice to families and friends who have lost loved ones at the hands of the state.
Photographer Sarah Booker worked with 17 bereaved sets of families and friends still fighting for justice. For each death, they produced a portrait, concept photograph and text to offer a personal view of state violence that plunges much deeper than just statistics or newspaper headlines.
The Inquest charity, which facilitated the exhibition, hopes the work will raise awareness and help all those affected in the battle for justice.
Eight police officers physically restrained Roger Sylvester in Tottenham, north London, in 1999. After this terrifying ordeal, cops took him to hospital, where they restrained him for a further 20 minutes.
Roger then sunk into a coma. Seven days later his life support machine was switched off. Roger was a trade unionist and administration officer in a mental health centre in Islington, north London.
The concept photo the Sylvester family worked on, outlines his body in chalk by the house he was restrained outside.
He had previously suffered from mental health issues, but for the two years before his death was said to be coping fine.
On 11 January Roger suffered a mental health crisis and was seen knocking on his door while naked. Police then restrained him. “We knew they ‘transformed a non-violent disturbance into a violent confrontation,’ killing you,” writes Roger’s family in a poem accompanying the images at the exhibition.
“It was no accident. It was deliberate. They have your blood on their hands.”
Rosie Tozer’s son, Danny, died in hospital in 2015. Since then his family has tried to understand what happened in the days leading up to his death. Danny was diagnosed with autism and epilepsy. During his later years the council said the only possible placement for Danny was a supported living home operated by the charity Mencap in York.
Rosie Tozer
His parents soon became worried about the level of care Danny was getting. They felt that support was inconsistent.
Danny was left alone for up to 35 minutes despite his support plan saying he should be checked on by care workers every five to ten minutes. He was later found in his room, unresponsive and face down, suffering a cardiac arrest.
He was put into intensive care but never regained consciousness and died the following evening, aged 36. At his inquest in 2018 the coroner said he had died of natural causes and no one could have prevented it. But his family continues fighting for the answers that explain Danny’s death.
The Care Quality Commission inspected five of Mencap’s homes in York and found regulation breaches and endemic staff shortages.
Sean Rigg died in police custody in 2008. His sister, Marcia Rigg, told Socialist Worker the police restrained Sean “in the prone position—in a similar manner to George Floyd.”
Sean was arrested for assaulting a police officer, public disorder and theft of a passport—which was actually his own.
Marcia Rigg
“This year is 15 years since his death—now I’m even more angry,” said Marcia. “Angry because I’ve met so many other families in similar circumstances.”
Marcia continues to fight for justice and sees this exhibition as part of that fight. “It is vital for families to have their voice heard,” she said. “The exhibition is the perfect opportunity to show the real side of the impact of state-related deaths,” she said.
A line of her accompanying description at the exhibition is written as if Sean wrote it. A section reads, “I was fit and healthy, just vulnerable with voices in my head.
“Restrained by the cops whose actions ‘more than minimally contribute to my death’, the inquest said.”
Joseph Scholes, was found hanged in his cell at a young offender institution, aged just 16, in 2003.
Joseph died under the watch and so-called “care” of Stoke Heath young offender institution, Shropshire. The clinically depressed teenager only lasted nine days in the institution.
The exhibition depicts a photo of his toys, in the shape of “16”, the age Joseph was when he died.
Since Inquest started monitoring in 1990, 36 children aged 17 or under have died in child prisons. Joseph’s family, the Bailey’s, have continued to fight for justice and highlight the state’s failures.
A poem by the family reads, “Child in conflict with the law’, was that really all you saw?
“You knew of my mental fragility. I wonder where was your humanity?”
Aziz Ahmed
Aziz Ahmed’s uncle, Daha Mohamed, passed away at The Bracton Centre mental health ward in Dartford, Kent. He had been detained there for just one month.
A detention order was given in 2014 after Daha pled guilty to the manslaughter of his neighbour in June 2012. A psychiatrist from Oxleas NHS Trust told the court Daha was suffering from a schizophrenic psychosis and could not exercise self‑control or form a rational judgement.
The lack of transparency for families with relatives in mental health settings opened up a long and painful bureaucratic process for Aziz. It left him feeling “bitter, bullied and betrayed by the state.”
Armed police shot Cherry Groce during a raid by police in south London, September 1985.
The shooting left her paralysed and in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Her son, Lee Lawrence, became her carer as he fought for justice. Bullet shrapnel lodged into Cherry’s spine eventually killed her in 2011, a post-mortem examination concluded.
Following the police shooting of Chris Kaba last year, Lee spoke to a protest in London. He said, “When I was 11 the police came into my house and shot my innocent mum, Cherry Groce, in front of me and my siblings.
Lee’s collaborative photo shows his mum’s empty wheelchair outside the house where she was shot.
“We never got justice. Justice is about fairness, and if we received justice, my mother would not have been killed.”
Following the shooting of Cherry, large, militant protests erupted, known as the second Brixton Uprising. Cars and shops were set ablaze as mostly black youth confronted the violent cops.
Souls Inquest exhibition continues until 28 May at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London, SE24 0JT. Open Wednesday to Friday and weekends. For details go to bit.ly/Inquestartshow
Thousands of residents in London have been without water for months
The climate crisis is impossible to ignore
The human cost of the heatwaves are higher than the temperature
Divide and rule was used to undermine struggle
