The Family of a Police Brutality Victim Who Died in Her Prison Cell Want You to Read Her Story

The familly call it “horrific tale of institutional racism, sexual violence, corruption and brutal incompetence/negligence”.

In 2012, Sarah Reed was arrested for shoplifting on London’s Regent Street. CCTV footage showed PC James Kiddie grabbing her by her hair and punching her whilst she was on the floor of the Uniqlo store. The footage understandably caused outrage online, and PC Kiddie was dismissed from the force and sentenced to a 150-hour community order.

Reed’s story however did not have a happy ending. Having long suffered from mental health problems, she died in a police cell last month, aged just 32, after being arrested again for shoplifting. The Ministry of Justice said Reed was “found unresponsive in her cell” at Holloway prison, and staff attempted CPR, but to no avail.

Following her death, her family have posted her story online, and it’s a bleak but powerful read. The post, which has spread on social media, details her decade-long struggles with mental illness following the death of her new born baby in 2003. The family say that she was subject to an attempted sexual assault whilst in hospital, and was denied medication in prison. They also claim they were not allowed to see her body when they visited the prison.

The family have also criticise the decision to only charge PC Kiddie with common assault, rather than a more serious offense. They asked activist Lee Jasper to make the story public in order to draw attention to what they see as a “horrific tale of institutional racism, sexual violence, corruption and brutal incompetence/negligence”. 

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