World in Action: The Birmingham 6 TV - 7/7: Crime & Prejudice - Baltimore Rising TV - Julian Assange - George Orwell - Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes that Changed Us TV - Say Her Name: The Life & Death of Sandra Bland TV - Panorama TV - The Tall Man TV - Adam Curtis TV - Dope TV - 537 Votes TV -
The [Birmingham 6] men’s ordeal was far from over. They were next taken from their cells to the bath house ... Prison officers were charged with assaulting the six but they were all acquitted at trial. World in Action: The Birmingham 6: Their Own Story, ITV 1991
They [Birmingham 6] had been beaten up and forced to confess, and a forensic scientist falsely testified they had handled explosives. The police also suppressed evidence that could have exonerated them. 7/7: Crime & Prejudice
The riot didn’t tear up the community, the condition of the community caused the uprising that we had. Baltimore Rising, Carl Stokes councilman, HBO 2017
On April 12 2015 Freddie Gray is arrested in the Gilmor Homes housing project … ‘He emerged at the end of that ride with an 80% torn spine.’ ibid. caption & attorney
Freddie Gray, a young man arrested by Baltimore City Police, last weekend, has died. ibid. news
The governor sends 2,000 national guardsmen to help police as Baltimore remains under a state of emergency. ibid. news
One week after Freddie Gray’s death, State’s Attorney, Marilyn Mosby, charges six Baltimore police officers. ibid. caption
‘Not guilty verdict.’ ibid. news
During the period of house arrest, I had an electronic manacle around my leg for 24 hours a day, and for someone who has tried to give others liberty all their adult life, that is absolutely intolerable. Julian Assange
It was always at night – the arrests invariably happened at night. The sudden jerk out of sleep, the round hand shaking your shoulder, the lights glaring in your eyes, the ring of hard faces round the bed. In the vast majority of cases there was no trial, no report in the press. People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. George Orwell, 1984
The confession was king and police were a law unto themselves. Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes that Changed Us III ***** introduction, BBC 2019
A miscarriage of justice so shocking it exposes the dark secrets of the police interrogation room and transforms the rights of us all. ibid.
‘Establishing time of death is terribly important: it is absolutely vital to get it right or the wrong people could finish up begin conviction.’ ibid. Dr Cameron
Radio Times: After the body of Maxwell Confait was found in his south London bedsit in April 1972, three boys were quickly arrested and questioned. Confait had been strangled, and the trio – Colin Lattimore (18) who had learning difficulties, Ronnie Leighton, 15, and Ahmet Salih, 14 – confessed their supposed involvement to police. ibid.
In the early 1970s the questioning of a suspect often took place in a cellblock, and with no independent witness, the only version of what was said came from the police themselves. The three boys were taken to Lewisham police station. ibid.
All three boys were being tried for arson, but Colin and Ronnie were also standing trial for the murder. They all pleaded their not guilty and protested their innocence. ibid.
‘The confession had been obtained under threats, duress without strong strong evidence … The police behaved badly.’ ibid. brief
‘Colin’s alibi was absolutely superb.’ ibid.
Life sentences with no time limit. ibid.
The Fisher Inquiry set out to discover how the boys could have confessed to something they didn’t do. ibid.
‘The police were absolutely hostile to begin with.’ ibid. Justice lady
New evidence emerged January 1980: a prison inmate was overheard discussing his and another inmate’s involvement in the crime. ibid.
‘One of the most serious miscarriages of justice in legal history.’ ibid. BBC news
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984: Pace. ibid. BBC news
The police culture of a previous era persisted. ibid. BBC news
Four years after Pace, a case in Cardiff would publicly expose the dangers of a police service that still chased confessions. On Valentine’s Day 1988 20 year old Lynette White was found stabbed to death in her flat in Butetown near the Cardiff docks. 10 months later her ex-partner Stephen Miller was arrested on suspicion of murder and questioned at Cardiff police station. After five days of interrogation he confessed to Lynette White’s murder … At his trial Miller was found guilty of murder along with two other men both implicated by his taped confession … ‘They’ve become known as the Cardiff 3: serving a prison sentence for life for a murder they say they didn’t commit.’ ibid. television news
On Monday July 13th [2015: at 8:58 am jailers went to cell 95 and observed Miss Bland hanging from the privacy partition in her cell. Say Her Name: The Life & Death of Sandra Bland ***** HBO 2020
Sandra Bland Rest In Power. Arrested for Traffic Violation: Killed in Police Custody. ibid. protest banner
‘You just slammed my head into the ground. Don’t you even care about that?’ ibid. Bland arrest filmed after rozzers’ assault
Cell 95: ‘Where she was didn’t have cameras … You have a thirty-gallon trash can in the inmates’ cell that gives her access to a plastic bag. If she was in as much pain as she said she was in, I just don’t see how she could have tied that perfect – very perfect – noose.’ ibid. family
‘Step out or I will remove you … I’m gonna yank you outta here … You are under arrest … I’m gonna drag you outta there.’ ibid.
‘That man [arresting rozzer] slapped her. You can hear it.’ ibid. lawyer
‘You are about to break my wrist! Can you stop?’ ibid. on arrest
‘The destruction of evidence on this family when they [rozzers] know they [family] were about to bury her. You don’t release a body if there’s more tests that you need on that body.’ ibid. lawyer
‘I don’t think there’s ever been an issue like this.’ ibid. mother
‘There are uneducated people who are hell-bent on self-extermination. I am not one of them. I am into building up my kings and queens. So for me, Black Lives Matter. ibid. Sandra’s activism
‘I am here to change history.’ ibid.
‘Say Her Name!’ ibid.
‘She had scrapes on her upper right side of her back.’ ibid. autopsy
‘Here is a guy who should clearly have been charge with assault. Battery … ’ ibid.
Trooper Encinia is fired. The Grand Jury begins to investigate the Walter Country Jail. ibid. caption
‘Evidence of deep bruising … someone has put their knee into her back.’ ibid. autopsy
‘We know that someone’s spirit can be broken.’ ibid. autopsy
‘Everyone was acquitted of wrong doing.’ ibid. television news
‘The jail were filled out in a way that should not have been filled out. They were turned in with false information.’ ibid. rozzer’s apologist’s admission
‘She was hung from a trash-bag. Well, the problem with that trash-bag is is that it didn’t have her fingerprints on it … In fact it didn’t have her DNA on it.’ ibid. lawyer
The family settles for $1.9 million and a prison of jail reform and police de-escalation training. ibid. caption
Police officers around the country you need to hear my voice – Tell the Fricking’ Truth. ibid. Charles Witherspoon, ex-rozzer
‘No, we didn’t go back there and tie a bag around her neck, but it is our responsibility to take care of her.’ ibid. R G Smith, sheriff
The Sandra Black Act is now law in Texas, mandating state-wide reforms to increase prison inmate safety. Police de-escalation training was removed from the bill. ibid. caption