{"id":3025,"date":"2021-06-04T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T09:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3025"},"modified":"2021-06-04T09:28:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T08:28:30","slug":"justice-for-seni-a-public-campaign-against-racism-in-psychiatric-units","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2021\/06\/04\/justice-for-seni-a-public-campaign-against-racism-in-psychiatric-units\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice for Seni: A Public Campaign Against Racism in Psychiatric Units"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018RIP SENI\u2019<\/em> (UK, 2021) Daisy Ifama, and Lizzie Reid film directors in conversation with Khalid Ali, film, and media correspondent
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018RIP SENI\u2019<\/em> world premiere at the Sheffield Doc \/ Fest<\/a> 6th June 2021, <\/strong>https:\/\/sheffdocfest.com\/film\/rip-seni<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the 24th<\/sup> of June 2020, a graffiti reading \u2018RIP SENI\u2019 appeared on a public artwork outside Bethlem Royal Hospital, a psychiatric unit in South London. The artwork \u201cSome Questions About Us\u201d is made up of eight mirrored placards asking questions about mental capacity and assessment. It had been created by Turner-prize nominee Mark Titchner and commissioned by Bethlem Gallery\u2019s Mental Health and Justice project. The red spray-painted letters reminded the local community of the tragic death of Seni Lewis, a 23-year-old black man.<\/p>\n

\"Seni
Seni Lewis with a young child from his family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the evening of Sunday 29th<\/sup> of August 2010, Seni\u2019s family and friends noticed that he was behaving strangely. Seni had no prior history of mental illness. Seni was then admitted as a voluntary patient at Bethlem Royal Hospital. Within hours of leaving him at the hospital, Seni\u2019s family were to learn that he had collapsed after being restrained by 11 police officers. Seni was then transferred to Mayday Hospital, where he was declared brain stem dead.<\/p>\n

\u2018RIP SENI\u2019<\/em> is a short film revisiting Seni\u2019s untimely death by documenting multiple perspectives from Seni\u2019s friends and family, mental healthcare professionals and Bethlem Royal Hospital service users. Featuring candid group discussions between Ajibola Lewis (Seni\u2019s mother), Marcia Rigg, Anna Susianta and Donna Mooney (campaigner against indefinite imprisonment (IPP)), who have all lost loved ones at the hands of the state, the film portrays the power of peer-support in a community coming together fighting institutional racism and social injustice.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, the Lewis family campaigned relentlessly to get an inquest into the circumstances of Seni\u2019s death. In 2017, after 29 days of evidence, the jury issued a unanimous verdict that the force used by police officers was \u201cexcessive, unreasonable, unnecessary and disproportionate\u201d. Despite the jury’s verdict, the police officers involved were cleared of all wrongdoing over Seni\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\"Ajibola
Ajibola Lewis, Seni’s mother campaigning for justice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2018, the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act<\/a><\/strong>, or \u2018Seni\u2019s Law<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 was passed because of the Lewis family and their local MP Steve Reed\u2019s campaign<\/a><\/strong>. The Bill mandates increased protection and oversight on the use of force in mental health settings. However, it does not apply to the use of force by the police, in mental health units or otherwise.<\/p>\n

Daisy Ifama, the film director states: \u201cIn September 2020 I was approached by Lucy Owen at Bethlem Gallery, and Ajibola Lewis, Seni\u2019s mother, to work collaboratively in developing a short documentary. I live in Lewisham, and I have known the name Olaseni Lewis since I was 16 years old, but it was not until working with the Lewis family, speaking with members of the United Families & Friends Campaign, and reading the details of their inquest investigations that I really understood the true horror at the centre of these stories and the insidious levels the state will go to protect itself. I linked up with Lizzie Reid to find a way to pull together the different strands of the story; the wide-ranging personal experiences of mental health, justice, community, and art\u201d.<\/p>\n