Families of prisoners who have killed express anger | Society

At the age of 25, Dean Saunders was suddenly struck by a mental health crisis. Convinced that his family wanted to hurt him, he attacked his brother with a knife. Then, while his father, Mark, was trying to prevent him from hurting himself, he stabbed him in the stomach. A few minutes later, apparently oblivious to what he had done, Dean told Mark, "Dad, I've never hurt you. I like you. "

Police arrested Saunders, a seriously ill young father, and charged him with two counts of attempted murder. But they told the family that they understood that he was sick and that he would be transferred to a hospital.

"We had the impression that this transfer was taking place. It took two psychiatric badessments to put the transfer in motion. But that never seems to happen, "said Saunders partner Clare Hobday-Saunders. In January 2016, 18 days after his incarceration in Chelmsford Prison, Saunders was killed.

A report from the Prison and Probation Ombudsman notes: "We are concerned that Chelmsford's nursing staff did not understand the proper process for transferring prisoners under the law on mental health. This resulted in a delay in Mr. Saunders' transfer to the hospital. "

An investigation into Saunders' death revealed that negligence contributed to his death. Hobday-Saunders said, "The investigation was exasperating. Many people said that we do not understand why he was here. It was one thing for us to say that he should not have been in jail, it's something else when people working there say the same thing. "

Saunders' family met with then Secretary of State Liz Truss, who apologized and promised reform.

In response to a Guardian inquiry, Hobday-Saunders said, "The data is really shocking. How much does it take to investigate before seeing a real change? "

She added, "My son does not have his father and I do not have the answers to tell him why. Why could not anyone help him?

She stated that Saunders should never have been sent to prison: "It was a prison environment. It was not the right environment for a sick person. This aggravated his symptoms. He was isolated from any sense of normalcy. He did not know that he was being transferred to the hospital. He just thought that he had been put in jail and that was all.

Sarah Reed, 32, has committed suicide a few days after Saunders' death. On remand for more than three months at Holloway Prison, she was waiting to receive psychiatric reports to confirm whether she was fit to plead for an alleged offense that occurred while she was a patient in a psychiatric hospital.

Marilyn Reed, Sarah's mother, called the findings of the Guardian's investigation "dreadful". She said: "If the families or relatives of the prisoners had access and were able to communicate with the police or prisons, if they were allowed to be listened to, lives would be saved."

In Sarah's case, Marilyn stated that she had tried several times to talk to the prison staff and her legal team about her mental health. But nobody listened, she added.

"We have been trying to inform Sarah's caregivers that she should not be where she was," Marilyn said.

The investigation into Sarah's death found that she had spent her last days in deep distress. Her mental health deteriorated after stopping antipsychotic treatment. She was removed from treatment because of heart problems, but the investigation did yield evidence that a safe alternative drug was available.

The jury concluded that the delays in the psychiatric badessment and the failure of the care had contributed to Sarah's death.

Marilyn said, "When you have a person clearly identified in the community as having problems, medication and being treated as a patient, when she goes to jail, all of a sudden, all of their care falls off the radar. . How can this be?

Lack of beds in secure hospitals was a recurring problem for many vulnerable prisoners awaiting transfer. Marilyn had called for safer hospitals to help people in mental health crisis.

"The police are used as a backup system," said Marilyn. "It's almost like throwing them away, like it's too much of a problem."

• In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted at 116 123 or by email at [email protected]. In the United States, the national suicide prevention policy is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service, Lifeline, is 13 11 14. You will find other international hotlines on suicide at www.befrienders. org.