Mental Health And Prison

Juliet Lyon, Director, Prison Reform Trust:

Jack Straw needs to get his cabinet colleagues to accept prisons cannot and should not continue to pick up the tab for a range of social and health needs.

Our prisons today contain an estimated 5,000 people with severe and enduring mental illness who should not be there but in treatment, [it's] a national disgrace. Not to mention the thousands more with lower-level mental health problems currently in custody who could be treated effectively and safely in the community.

A national network of diversion centres in courts and police stations to identify and help people whose offending is driven by mental illness not criminality would do much to relieve pressure on prison places, cut re-offending and help some of the most vulnerable people in society.

Many of the solutions to prison overcrowding and re-offending lie outside of prison walls.