Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 30
30
Deferred
Paragraph: 97
Welcome proposal to end prison as ‘place of safety’ requires investment in alternatives.
Conclusion
We welcome the proposal in the Mental Health Act Reform white paper to end the use of prison as a ‘place of safety’ and the recognition that this must be supported by investment in alternatives. Problems with access to emergency mental health services (including a shortage of beds on general psychiatric wards) are at the heart of the problem.
Government Response Summary
The government confirms its commitment to ending the use of prison as a place of safety and to legislate via the Mental Health Act Reform Bill, but states a cross-departmental working group is being established to fully understand the issue and develop a response by September 2022.
Paragraph Reference:
97
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The Government agreed that we should end the use of prison as a place of safety for individuals with severe mental health issues in the Mental Health Act White Paper and committed to legislating at the earliest possible opportunity through the proposed Mental Health Act Reform Bill. Since the factors which could lead to prison being used in this way are complex, including awareness of sentencers, a lack of robust and timely information sharing and a lack of available or accessible health resources, it is critical that we fully understand how, when and why this is happening before we can be sure of safely ending its use entirely. There are multiple scenarios in which prison could be used as a place of safety under the Mental Health Act, and the appropriate alternatives to prison will vary according to whether the individual is being remanded for assessment, remanded for treatment, or pending admission to hospital for treatment under the Mental Health Act 1983. Because of a lack of centralised recorded data, it is difficult to establish how frequently any of these scenarios are occurring. The MoJ, DHSC, HMPPS, HMCTS, NHS England and NHS Improvement are therefore working together to understand the scale of the issue. We (MoJ, DHSC, HMPPS, HMCTS, NHS England and NHS Improvement) are establishing a cross-departmental Working Group in order to identify and analyse relevant data sources and case examples to examine how often and in what circumstances this may be occurring. As part of this work, the MoJ will be undertaking judicial engagement to explore the issues behind their decision-making, what information was shared to support them with their decision-making, and at what stages in the criminal justice process they are seeing these issues arise. The aim is to review the available information and make initial recommendations by the end of March 2022. This work will enable an understanding of the scale of the issue, so that each department and agency is able to identify where changes are required and to work together to develop a cross-departmental response and agreement of priorities by September 2022.