Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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Questions remain over the death of Sarah Reed
Her inquest reveals systemic failings in the care for people in prison with mental illnesses, writes ZITA HOLBOURNE
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
SARAH REED, a young black woman with a history of mental illness, was detained on remand in a single occupancy cell in the healthcare unit of Holloway women’s prison. She was found dead on January 11 2016. The prison has since been closed.
Her illness was precipitated by the premature death of her six-month-old daughter in 2003, when she and her partner were dispatched from a children’s hospice with their deceased baby wrapped in a quilt to find an undertaker.
Reed’s mental health deteriorated as a consequence of this trauma. She was also the victim of a vicious assault by a Metropolitan Police officer, PC James Kiddie, in 2012. He was subsequently charged, convicted and dismissed from the police force.
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