Carl Owens

Carl Owens was a popular 22-year-old Black man from Bow in east London.

In 1994, Carl had a heart attack in his segregation cell in Brixton Prison. He later fell into a coma and died at King’s College Hospital. Senior prison doctor Dr Archibald Alexander had prescribed Carl a dose of methadone (as a substitute for heroin) that was too strong for him. Dr Alexander had been told that Carl had used drugs. However, he was not a heroin user.

Carl was one of three prisoners at Brixton who had died following an overdose of methadone within a five-month period, which raised serious questions about the professional conduct of the prison doctor.

A 1995 inquest into Carl’s death returned a verdict of 'death by misadventure'. However, the chief coroner made a series of recommendations that would ensure all the essential checks were made when prescribing medication to people in prison.

Carl’s family continued a tireless battle to ensure that disciplinary charges were brought against Dr Alexander and in 1999 he was struck off the medical register. The General Medical Council said Dr Alexander had acted "irresponsibly" and that all people in prison were entitled to "good standards of practice and care".