Cheryl Hartman
Cheryl Simone Hartman was a much-loved 20-year-old Black woman from north-west London.
From her teenage years she had experienced anxiety and mental ill health.
In 2000, she was sent to Holloway Prison, despite clear evidence that she needed medical support for her mental ill health. Although Cheryl received treatment in the prison’s psychiatry wing, with the treating psychiatrist noting Cheryl’s agitation, anxiety and depression, she was transferred to the young offenders wing.
Within three months of being in Holloway, Cheryl died a self-inflicted death and there were serious concerns with how the family were informed of her death.
Cheryl’s death exposed the lack of prison staff training on self-harm and communication failures between relevant institutions on people's medical history. Her family issued a complaint to the Prison Ombudsman highlighting these failures. The Prison Service later published a list of recommendations, including regular staff training and installing a system which holds a person's medical history.
Holloway Prison was under scrutiny from INQUEST, prisoners, families, organisations and activists for decades. It was heavily criticised for its lack of care, high rates of self-inflicted death and awful conditions.
London’s only prison for women, Holloway was closed in 2016, which meant that existing and future prisoners were moved further away from their homes and communities.
INQUEST complained on behalf of the family of Ms Cheryl Hartman that the prison service had failed to provide adequate care to Ms Hartman...in particular they complained that the Prison Service failed to obtain relevant information about Ms Hartman's medical history, that there had been failures in staff communication, that staff had not been well versed in self harm and suicide awareness procedures...that there had been shortcomings when dealing with the family.
Parliamentary Ombudsman Report 2002
