Campaigners pay tribute to prisons activist

Ms Campbell, from Whitchurch in Shropshire, became an active member of the organisation after her 18-year-old daughter Sarah died of a drug overdose while in the care of Styal Prison in 2003.

It is understood that her body was found on Thursday morning close to her daughter's grave in Malpas, Cheshire.

A spokeswoman for Cheshire Police said: "We are investigating the circumstances."

Ever since her daughter's death, Ms Campbell became a thorn in the side of the government and the Prison Service, organising protests outside jails where women had died to highlight the failure of the system in providing adequate care and protection for vulnerable inmates in its care.

Despite being arrested 15 times at vigils and demonstrations, Ms Campbell was never convicted.

Most recently, she was accused of obstructing the highway when she led a protest rally at Styal Prison following the death of 32-year-old mother Lisa Marley, who was found hanged in her cell.

After the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped the charges, she told the Manchester press: "From start to finish, this senseless prosecution was a waste of the court's time and a scandalous waste of public money."

At the time, the CPS and the Attorney General met with a barrage of letters from the public, complaining about the "vindictive" nature of the case.

Inquest co-director Deborah Coles said that Ms Campbell's death "should remind everyone not just about the many unnecessary and preventable deaths of women in prison but also of the impact on families they leave behind.

"Pauline became a formidable campaigner committed to exposing the injustices and inhumanity of the treatment of women in prison."

Howard League director Frances Crook described Ms Campbell as a "loving mother, a generous-hearted woman and a human being of indescribable bravery.

"Pauline was also the single most effective and inspiring campaigner for penal reform in recent years. Her uniquely courageous voice will live on, as it must, for as long as injustice remains in our society."

Prison Reform Trust director Juliet Lyon expressed her admiration for Ms Campbell, who she said "campaigned bravely and tirelessly. Her death makes me so sad."