When someone dies in the care or custody of the state, families and friends are often left with shock, grief and unanswered questions. These deaths happen in prisons, police custody, immigration detention, mental health and learning disability settings, and in disasters where public and corporate bodies have failed to protect peoples’ health and safety.
Too often, families face an alien system that is complex, slow, and stacked against them.
INQUEST exists to change that. Founded in 1981 by bereaved families and friends, we work to expose the state failures, violence and injustice that allow these deaths to happen, and to support the families fighting for truth, justice and accountability.
Working alongside bereaved people we have drawn national and international attention to contentious deaths and their investigation in Britain.
Independent of government
We are completely independent of government. This independence matters. It means we can stand alongside families, challenge official accounts, and push for truth, accountability and meaningful change to prevent future deaths.
What we do
Specialist casework
We work directly with bereaved people to help them navigate the post death investigation and inquest processes. Our casework team supports families with practical advice and support to understand what is happening, ask the right questions, find legal representation and seek the truth about how their loved one died.
Community building
Grief after a preventable death involving the state can be isolating. We facilitate supportive spaces for bereaved people to share experiences, make connections with others, grow solidarity, and identify the systemic issues bereaved people face and push for change together This collective strength is at the heart of our work.
Campaigning for change
The evidence we gather through casework, statistical monitoring and research gives us a unique national picture of the issues arising from contentious deaths involving the state and their investigations. We use this to challenge public and corporate bodies, influence policy, and push for change that can save lives.
Sharing knowledge
We are the only organisation in England and Wales with a comprehensive overview of these deaths. We track patterns and trends, highlight risks, and place individual cases in their wider social and political context.
Commemoration
We remember those who have died and challenge state narratives that blame, dehumanise or erase them. Their lives and stories matter, and we work to ensure they are not forgotten and the lasting bonds of love are recognised within legal processes.
an organisation that shines a light into the state’s darkest corners, often on behalf of society’s most vulnerable people.
'In praise of...INQUEST' editorial in The Guardian
Our specialist focus
- Access to justice for families: ensuring bereaved people are treated with dignity and respect, and have the support and representation they need to participate fully in post-death investigations and inquests.
- Visibility and accountability: shining a light on deaths that are often hidden from public view, and pushing for systems that prevent future harm.
- Structural change: addressing the wider social, political and institutional factors that contribute to deaths in state custody and care.
Our values
- Anti Racist, Anti Oppression – challenging racism, misogyny, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia.
- Empathy – ensuring our work is grounded in empathy and compassion, without judgement.
- Evidence-based – grounding our work in evidence from our casework as well as the experiences and needs of bereaved people.
- Transformation – focused on impacts which generate transformative, systemic change and justice, being uncompromising in imagining better futures.
Make a Donation
Every year, INQUEST supports hundreds of families bereaved by deaths involving the state. We are independent of government and entirely reliant on grants and donations to continue our vital work.
Support us and bereaved families in the fight for truth, justice and accountability by becoming a regular donor today.