Comments on: Britz: another exposition

By: Pauline Campbell

Pauline Campbell — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:11:23 +0000

Indigo Jo (7 November 2007) refers to two women prisoners who died in the ‘care’ of the State in recent years. His/her post contains factual inaccuracies, which I need to correct. I am the grieving mother of one of the women referred to: Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, 18, who died in the so-called care of Styal Prison in 2003. Indigo Jo says: “I have heard of two female prisoners who committed suicide [sic] who were not hardened criminals before they went in (Sheena Kotecha and the Campbell woman whose mum insists her death wasn’t suicide even though she took an overdose of meds she’d brought with her).” As I type this comment, Sheena Kotecha’s inquest is running, and it is for the jury to decide (and no-one else) whether or not Ms Kotecha’s death was suicide. A verdict will be reached when all the evidence has been heard. Re the death of my only child Sarah - it is not that her mum “insists her death wasn’t suicide”. The jury in 2005 decided that my daughter’s death was not suicide. There is a great deal of misunderstanding about the term “suicide”. A jury is only allowed to return a suicide verdict if the evidence clearly indicates the person intended to take their own life. My daughter took an overdose of antidepressant tablets on the day she died, but then told prison staff what she’d done. Their response (including a nurse) was to walk out of the cell, lock the door and leave her alone. There were “avoidable delays” before staff phoned for an ambulance. On arrival at the gates, the ambulance was stopped for 8 minutes before being allowed through. The jury’s verdict [255 words] was a damning indictment of the “care” my daughter received at the jail. Sarah’s death, and the deaths of 5 other women who died at the same prison within a 12-month period, have been described by INQUEST, London, as “a clear example of corporate manslaughter”. None of the 6 inquests returned “suicide” verdicts.

By: h

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:26:38 +0000

i think it was good use of my 4.5 hours even just to see what people worry about muslim female doctors ( like me).

i dont think the mistakes were malice but oversight,

this is in the prophetic tradition of having compassion for your enemy ( they might be ur brother or sister…) and makes us thinnk of the pointless tragesy that godlessness in all people the muslim and the non muslim always leads to.

By: Indigo Jo

Indigo Jo — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:29:40 +0000

Sheena Kotecha was a hardened criminal- what else would you call a persistent armed robber?

No, she was not a persistent armed robber. She was driving the getaway car for an armed robber - something she said she did not realise, believing that the robber was merely getting a drink. Neither she nor the robber had any previous convictions.

By: Thersites

Thersites — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:31:11 +0000

Sheena Kotecha was a hardened criminal- what else would you call a persistent armed robber? She was not a hardened prisoner.

As only twenty two people have had control orders imposed on them there isn’t much material for a statistical analysis of their effect; however, we do know, from what people under control orders have said and from the fact that people under control orders have preferred to return to countries with a taste for torture, that they have an alarming effect on the people they are imposed on. There is no reason to think their immediate effect is any different to that of any other form of imprisonment, which includes a greatly increased risk of suicide in the period immediately after they begin.

By: Indigo Jo

Indigo Jo — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:53:32 +0000

Are you really missing my point or are you being deliberately obtuse? Prison is prison, and women’s jails have their share of psychos just as men’s jails do, even if they are not rapists. I have heard of two female prisoners who committed suicide who were not hardened criminals before they went in (Sheena Kotecha and the Campbell woman whose mum insists her death wasn’t suicide even though she took an overdose of meds she’d brought with her). Your thesis is undermined by the fact that no suicide has yet taken place as a result of a control order.

By: Thersites

Thersites — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:41:44 +0000

“In the early days of a prison sentence, someone will be getting to know their new company of rapists, drug dealers, murderers and thugs. Sabia was living in her own home, surrounded by her own family. Big difference.”

There aren’t many rapists in women’s prisons and people are sent to prison only after being convicted of a crime, which means they probably already associate with other criminals before they go in. It is the shock and disorientation of imprisonment, among other things that drives themto kill themselves, and in that respect, control orders- indefinite sentences for unspecified offences with the duty of making sure the prisoner behaves as a prisoner imposed on the prisoner in their own accustomed surroundings- is probably even more disorienting.

By: Old Pickler

Old Pickler — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:45:20 +0000

This was silly nonsense from beginning to end. The dialogue was quite wooden, as if the characters were constantly making a political point, but even the political points were not well made.

The non-Muslims were no more convincing than the Muslims. There’s a scene where Nasmira wears a hijab and nobody sits next to her on a crowded bus. This is very unlikely.

What twaddle.

By: safiya

safiya — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:14:07 +0000

I would just like to point out another unconvincing part of this film.

She’s meant to blow up/damage the towers, yet she’s sat in a basin-like arena with a minute amount of explosives on her?!

Seriously, the more I think about this, the more faults I see. No wonder Channel 4 is going down the tubes when it shows dreck like this.

By: Andrew Coates

Andrew Coates — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:54:21 +0000

The critical analysis of Britz offered here is interesting to us secularists as well as to Muslims.

What struck in my craw was that the film has someone so obviously good, human-hearted and sensitive as Nasimra ending up as a suicide bomber at a London Sinfonia Concert.

It was very hard to take that: a serious slur on radical political activists concerned about Blair/Brown and Iraq, and all kinds of believers alike.

By: Indigo Jo

Indigo Jo — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:08:59 +0000

In the early days of a prison sentence, someone will be getting to know their new company of rapists, drug dealers, murderers and thugs. Sabia was living in her own home, surrounded by her own family. Big difference.