NCJ Number
140618
Journal
Research Bulletin Issue: 32 Dated: (1992) Pages: 1-6
Date Published
1992
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study assesses health care for inmates diagnosed as mentally ill while detained in British prisons awaiting trial.
Abstract
The study was conducted at three prisons: Holloway, Brixton, and Risley. The study population was selected in 1989. The sample consisted of all men and women inmates who came to the attention of prison doctors for psychiatric reasons over a 5-month to 6-month period. From the initial sample, a core group was identified for followup. It consisted of three overlapping categories: people with evidence of past or present psychotic illnesses or of mental handicap, people referred to outside psychiatrists, and all those for whom court reports were written. Information on subjects was obtained from prison medical records and questionnaires sent to the courts and to outside psychiatrists. In some cases, the prison doctors and inmates were also interviewed. The study found that as a method of obtaining psychiatric help for mentally disordered offenders, the custodial remand had nothing to commend it. It was inhumane, expensive, and ineffective. It exposed mentally disordered people to conditions and regimes that were cruelly harsh and inappropriate. It brought into prison thousands of defendants who did not need to be there and for whom penal disposals were never contemplated. The establishment of alternative arrangements, such as local liaison and assessment schemes as recommended by the Home Office, was urgently required. Also, greater use of S.48 of the Mental Health Act of 1983 would enable those in urgent need of treatment to be rapidly transferred to hospitals.