Mental Health in Prisons inquiry
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“Despite setting ambitious objectives for providing mental health services to prisoners, the Government does not know how many people in prisons have a mental illness, or how much it is spending on treating them, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report . The NAO estimates that c.£400 million was spent in 2016–17 on prisoners’ healthcare in England. This included treatment for 7,917 mental health patients. However, surveys carried out by HM Inspectorate of Prisons found that 31,328 prisoners (37% of the prison population) reported mental health or well-being issues. Incidents of self-harm and self-inflicted death in prisons are increasing with 120 self-inflicted deaths in 2016—the highest on record. The Prisons and Probation Service estimated that 70% of prisoners who ended their own life between 2012 and 2014 had mental health needs. Clinical care to prisoners is considered good, but identification of those who need mental health services is not consistent. Prisoners are screened upon arrival but staff do not have access to GP records. With a 30% reduction in public prison staff between 2009– and 2017 it is harder to detect changes in prisoners’ health, whilst in private prisons HM Prisons and Probation Service does not monitor the quality of healthcare provided. The Public Accounts Committee will ask NHS England, HM Prisons and Probation Service and Ministry of Justice about how they are working together to secure reliable data on incidences of mental illness among prisoners, why reliable data does not yet exist, and how at a time of budgetary pressure they will ensure to provide healthcare provision to those prisoners who need it.”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
Record high numbers of self-inflicted deaths and incidents of self-harm in prisons are a damning indictment of the current state of the mental health of those in prison and the prison environment overall. More excuses are not good enough. The Ministry of Justice, HM Prison and Probation Service and NHS England have a duty of care to those in prison, yet do not know where they are starting from, how well they are doing or whether their current plans will be enough to succeed.
The current level of self-inflicted deaths and self-harm incidents in prisons is appalling and the system for improving the mental health of prisoners isn’t working as it should.
Government does not have reliable or up-to-date measure of the number of prisoners who have mental health problems and existing screening procedures are insufficient to adequately identify those who need support and treatment.
People in prison are more likely to suffer from mental health problems than those in the community. Yet prisoners are less able to manage their mental health conditions because most aspects of their day-to-day life are controlled by the prison. These difficulties are being exacerbated by a deteriorating prison estate, long-standing lack of prison staff and the increased prevalence of drugs in prison.
Improving the mental health of prisoners is a difficult and complex task, but it is an essential step to reducing reoffending and ensuring that those who are released from prison can rebuild their lives in the community. Despite this, Government’s efforts to improve the mental health of those in prison so far have been poorly co-ordinated, and information is still not shared across the organisations involved, and not even between community and prison GP services.
What the government said
No government response is linked to this report.
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 27 September 2017 to 16 May 2018.
- Oral evidence 23 Oct 2017
- Report 13 Dec 2017
- Correspondence 16 May 2018
What it recommended
The committee's recommendations are not listed here yet. Read them in 8th Report - Mental health in prisons ↗ on parliament.uk.
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1
- 23 Oct 2017No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗