Pauline Campbell, whose daughter collapsed, dying, in a prison cell, despairs at the conclusion of the Michael Powell case.

Although six police officers have been cleared by a jury of involvement in the death of Michael (Mikey) Powell, this does nothing to assuage the growing concern about the lack of accountability following deaths in custody.

My reaction to the Mikey Powell case is one of disbelief that no one has been held to account. Benjamin Zephaniah believes his cousin Mikey died because officers treated him as a racial stereotype, instead of a sick man in need of help.

Institutionalised prejudice and intolerance is endemic in our public bodies. The number of people dying in police and prison custody, or at the hands of State officials, remains deeply disturbing.

Mikey Powell died in 2003, the same year that my only child died in prison custody. Aged 18, Sarah was the youngest of six women to die in the 12 months ending August 2003 in the 'care' of Styal Prison, Cheshire. But the word "care" is something of a misnomer. There was no care.

She arrived at HMP Styal on January 17 2003, having been convicted of a non-violent offence. The following day she was carried out of Styal unconscious, and taken to hospital, but died later that evening without regaining consciousness. In that fateful 24 hours, in the so-called care of Styal, Sarah was vomiting, fitting, suffered several cardiac arrests, and was bleeding from the nose and mouth when she died. I was informed of her death on the telephone by a police officer. But, as with Mikey Powell's death, no one has been held to account.

The cause of my daughter's death was antidepressant prescription drug poisoning. The jury at her inquest last year did not return a suicide verdict but, in a detailed narrative, said a "failure in the duty of care" and "avoidable delays" in summoning the ambulance, had contributed to her death.

On the day she died, despite being on 'suicide watch', Sarah somehow managed to swallow some pills, but then told prison staff what she had done - a clear 'cry for help'. But prison staff walked out of her cell, locked the door, and left her alone. She vomited blood and vomit while alone in her cell on the segregation (punishment) block.

The prison delayed for some 40 minutes before summoning an ambulance. There was even an argument between a prison officer and a nurse about whose job it was to call the ambulance. On arrival at the jail, the ambulance was held up at the gates for eight minutes before being allowed in. Sarah was unconscious when paramedics reached her.

In 2004, the year after Sarah's death, shocked by the suffering and deaths of women prisoners, I decided to engage in 'direct action'. Whenever a woman prisoner dies (self-inflicted death), I organise and lead a prison-death demonstration outside the jail.

Eighteen demonstrations have been held, and I have been arrested 12 times. But I remain undeterred, and the demonstrations will continue as and when necessary. Where there is injustice, there will be protest.

Both Mikey Powell and my daughter had a history of depression. Despite being owed a legal duty of care, both died at the hands of the State. Mr Powell's family rightly refers to a "travesty of justice". The Police Federation chairman has spoken of the "great distress to the officers involved", but the grief and anger felt by the Powell family must be unimaginable. Three children have been left without a father following Mikey's death.

The disproportionate number of black males dying in police custody remains problematic. In prison custody, afurther thirty one women have died(apparently self-inflicted deaths) since my daughter's death in 2003. Yet everyone apparently has a right to life under the Human Rights Act 1998, Article 2.

When our loved ones come into contact with the criminal justice system, we do not expect them to die. But people have been shot by police officers; others have met their death in some way or another in prison or police cells.

Despite official hand-wringing and the setting-up of inquiries and reviews when things go wrong, the reality is that government does not care. The current malaise in politics is part of the problem. There is an issue of political accountability which lies at the heart of this shameful state of affairs.

Police behaviour has, at times,added to my distress as a grieving mother. Following my daughter's death in 2003, I complained to my MP, Stephen O'Brien, that the police had informed me of Sarah's death on the telephone. When my MP wrote to Cheshire Constabulary, a police inspector's written reply stated I had been "abusive" to his officer.

I was shocked and distressed when told the news in such a heartless way, but I was not abusive. A friend, who happens to be a lawyer holding a part-time judicial appointment, and who was with me when I received the telephone call from the police, assured me that I was not abusive.

There was no retraction of the allegation, and I have never received an apology.

At no time in her short life did my daughter have alcohol dependency problems. Yet at the time of her death, a Cheshire Constabulary press release referred to her "alcohol dependency problems". A local newspaper then published a story referring to her as an "alcoholic".

Despite efforts on my part, I was unable to persuade the police to issue a correction to their press release, nor did they apologise. I asked the newspaper to publish a correction and apology. In a sub-sequent edition of their paper, they merely reiterated my statement that Sarah "was not and never had been an alcoholic", adding that the reference had come from a Cheshire Constabulary press release.

It was not a correction, in my opinion, and there was certainly no apology. Astonishingly, when I reported the newspaper to the Press Complaints Commission, my complaint was not upheld.

So what needs to be done? Regarding deaths in custody, the seriousness of the situation has been voiced by Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights.

One of its many recommendations states that an offence of corporate killing should be made applicable to public bodies such as police forces and the Prison Service, in order to provide adequate legal protection for the right to life against careless killing by public bodies, as required by Article 2.

Unless the Committee's recommendation is implemented, the deaths will continue.

Deaths in custody are an affront to a society that seeks to be a civilised democracy.

The outcome of Mikey Powell's case will inevitably result in a further loss of confidence in the ability of the system to deliver real justice.