UK : Juliet Lyon, ‘If the state takes away your liberty, it must keep you safe’

The almost 17 years Juliet Lyon spent as director of the Prison Reform Trust before stepping down in July was good preparation for her new role as chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (IAP). With figures last month showing violence and death in English and Welsh prisons at an all-time high, the need for the IAP has probably never been greater. At the PRT Lyon often came into contact with bereaved families whose loved ones had died while in the care of the state. Although some were homicides, most were self-inflicted.

As a long-term prisoner, I was frequently on wings and landings when fellow prisoners took their own lives. My first-ever article for the Guardian in 1998 was about the impact that such deaths have. There were 1,247 prison suicides in the 20 years I served before my release in 2004, according to figures from the charity Inquest.

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