Prisoners with mental illness must wait months before being transferred to hospital | Society

A Guardian investigation revealed that prisoners with serious mental health problems wait up to six months before being transferred to the hospital.

Government guidelines in England and Wales stipulate that prisoners with severe mental illness must be transferred to a hospital within 14 days of the first medical recommendation. According to an badysis of data from the Ministry of Justice, hundreds of one year of prisoners await adequate treatment.

The data shows that, in some cases, prisoners with mental health problems wait six months before receiving a request for a transfer of a prisoner until admission to hospital.

An badysis of self-inflicted deaths in prison also reveals that at least six prisoners have committed suicide since 2014 while they were waiting for a transfer to the hospital.

In a report on the death of a prisoner, Nigel Newcomen, the prison monitoring body, noted that even though the detainee had been found fit to be transferred to a hospital, the prisoner "had been waiting for more than seven weeks after his death". In a report on the suicide of another prisoner, Newcomen wrote that "at the time of his death, he was waiting for his transfer to a secure hospital, but unfortunately, no bed was available before his death."

Of the six cases, two prisoners waited more than two weeks before being transferred to the hospital. In one case, a prison psychiatrist requested an badessment to determine if an inmate was to be transferred to a secure hospital, but the specialist commissioners did not receive the initial request, the head of the health team mental sent him back several weeks later. The prisoner was still awaiting evaluation when he died.

In 2011, the government introduced guidelines in England and Wales whereby a second medical opinion and all administrative tasks had to be completed within 14 days.

But in England and Wales in 2016-17, 66% of hospital prison transfers took more than 14 days and 7.1%, 140 days or more.

Data released by the Department of Justice, following a parliamentary question by MP Barbara Keeley, revealed that it takes an average of two weeks for a crucial step in the process, from the moment the department receives a request for transfer until the date of actual admission. hospital.

The Department of Justice notes that it sometimes receives incomplete applications, so that some of the time between reception and admission would be devoted to waiting for essential information. .

The total number of transfers to the hospital has decreased by 12% in four years. In 2014, 1,061 people were transferred from one prison to another, but increased to 936 in 2017.

Keeley, Minister of Labor Mental Health, said, "This data revealed the hidden scandal of lack of access to mental health care in English prisons, a scandal that tragically cost the lives of prisoners who were desperately seeking help to heal.

"The unions are calling for an urgent inquiry by Conservative ministers on the extent of the mental health crisis in prison and the barriers faced by those trying to access prison services.

Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said, "The prison is not the place for people with serious mental illness. These shocking numbers graphically show the harm done to the most vulnerable patients, while two overworked services discuss who should care for them.

"The government must act now to fulfill its responsibilities to individuals, totally at its mercy."

Abdi Gure, a community organizer from Mind who works to transfer BAME prisoners with mental illness to the hospital, said that there were significant institutional failures.

"There is a failure at every stage," he said. "We have cases where Black people, who have been in the mental health system for many years, feel unwell and commit a crime, the police pick them up, treat them like real criminals, take them to the police station and indicts. "

Deborah Coles, Director of Investigation, said, "The prolonged delay in transferring inmates from correctional facilities to mental health facilities, when recognized as being in crisis, is deplorable and costing lives. Prisons are dangerous, dangerous environments that exacerbate distress and mental health problems. "

A government spokesman said, "We take the mental health of prisoners very seriously. This is why we have increased the available support for vulnerable offenders – especially during the first 24 hours in custody – and have invested more in training prison officers in mental health.

"But we recognize that it is possible to do more and continue to work in partnership with the NHS England, among others, to improve the mental health of offenders at all levels of the criminal justice system."