Funeral Takes Place For 'Brave' Prisons' Campaigner

The funeral of a prisons' campaigner will take place today.

Sixty-year-old Pauline Campbell, originally from Whitchurch, Shropshire, was found dead in Malpas, Cheshire on May 15.

It is reported that her body was found close to her daughter Sarah's grave, who died of a drug overdose at Styal prison, Cheshire, five years ago.

The prison was featured in the BBC Two documentary 'Women on the Edge – the Truth about Styal Prison' in February, 2006.

Mrs Campbell tirelessly fought to highlight the incidence of suicide in female jails and had organised at least 28 demonstrations.

In an account written by Mrs Campbell on her daughter's death she said: "I will never forget the cruel way she was treated, and the shock of her death.

"Where there is injustice, there will be protest. And long may the spirit of protest remain alive and well in our democratic society."

A statement issued by Mrs Campbell family said that the mother had "never recovered" from the loss of her 18-year-old daughter.

"To that end she travelled the length and breadth of the country organising and attending demonstrations wherever there was a death of a woman in custody," it said.

Representatives of the Howard League for Penal Reform, of which Mrs Campbell was a trustee and the pressure group Inquest will pay their final respects at the funeral.

Frances Crook, Director of the Howard League commented: "Pauline Campbell was a loving mother, a generous hearted woman, and a human being of indescribable bravery."

Deborah Coles, co-director of Inquest said: "Her death should remind everyone not just about the many unnecessary and preventable deaths of women in prison but also of the impact on the families they leave behind."

The service will take place at Saint Alkmund's Church in Whitchurch, Shropshire.

(DS)