Prisons ‘used to warehouse the mentally ill’
Three quarters of men held in British prisons suffer from two or more mental disorders, a new report warns.
Research by the Prison Reform Trust also finds that one in ten male prisoners has a functional psychosis, and concludes that many inmates are the mentally ill who have slipped through the care system in the outside world.
“The use of prison to warehouse people for their mental illness is a criminal use of our justice system, it makes ill people worse and disrupts the rehabilitative work of prisons,” said trust director Juliet Lyons.
However, a spokeswoman for the Home Office told politics.co.uk that the care given to mentally ill prisoners was often better than they received in the community, with £20 million already spent in this area since April.
Today’s report claims that prisons are “ill-suited” for managing mental illness and that staff have profound difficulties in dealing with the needs of mentally ill offenders. As a result, it warns that the mental health of many inmates deteriorates while in prison.
It calls for the government to urgently address mental health services for prisoners and for health and social care commissioners to be compelled to include prisoners in their plans and provide appropriate funding.
On a broader note, it calls on politicians and the public to recognise the link between mental illness and crime.
“Many men in prison are mentally ill, much of their offending is a public health concern, not a criminal justice one,” said Ms Lyons.
“The solution is not investing in more prisons, but fixing the gaps in mental health care, drug treatment and diversion from police stations and courts to treatment.”
Responding, the Home Office said that there has been a concerted drive to improve mental health care in prisons in the past five years, in conjunction with the Department of Health.
There is now a wide range of services available, including for those prisoners with problems of self-harm and substance abuse, while management structures have been improved, the spokeswoman said.
All inmates are assessed on arrival and, if found to have mental health problems, they are referred to a specialist team for help, she added.
