Call for action on mentally ill prisoners
Tuesday 26th May 2009, 3:01PM BST.
The Royal Court building
THE Royal Court has urged the States to address the growing problem of dealing with mentally ill prisoners.
On Friday the court, which was dealing with the case of a man who attacked his own father and sister, asked the prosecution to speak to both the Health Minister and the relevant Scrutiny panel to address the issue.
Over the past 12 months, a number of cases have come before the Royal Court in which mentally ill criminals have been sentenced to prison at La Moye instead of to specialist institutions in the UK capable of dealing with them, as requested by defence advocates. These requests have been turned down because of the huge cost involved.
On Friday, during the sentencing of 28-year-old John Highfield, Commissioner Francis Hamon called for the Crown Advocate to contact the Health Minister (Deputy Anne Pryke) and the relevant Scrutiny panel (Health and Social Services) to address the problem of helping mentally ill prisoners in Jersey.
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This is not an” either or “situation there are going to be people who are so disturbed that they do dangerous things,so a “Secure” unit ought to be available here,simply tagged onto or within the prison,it would not need to be massive and training can be had to man it as and when, surely this is within the wit of those responsible……
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If someone is mentally ill, should they be treated as a criminial and taken through the process of the courts and incarcerated in prison, without specialist care on the grounds of cost? The Royal Court doesn’t think this is just and nor do I.
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It is such a great shame when people whose ‘crimes’ are due to matters reaslly beyond their control that they are locked up for whatever period of time the Courts see fit because there is no other option open to them. In this instance and also in the case of some drug related crimes, prison is not the right answer. More in depth help and counselling is required.
As things stand at the moment it is a case of ‘lock ‘em up’ and when they are released, without the necessary help it will be straight back where they started from.
If necessary resources were made available it would surely alleviate the circle of re-offending that the current situation causes, and surely would be cost effective in the long term.
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If the prisoners are known to be mentally ill, to sentence and lock them up without appropriate medical attention is a violation of human rights. Jersey has been knowingly doing this for years and this is a disgrace for the island.
I am not in favour of giving in to criminals who are mentally ill, but I am equally not in favour of denying them their basic human rights.
Jersey’s local government should at last realise that some things involve high cost, and the basic rights, values and dignity for the mentally ill, for the aged, for the deprived or the poor should be guaranteed, irrespective of these costs.
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Trust finances to be an excuse for a subject such as this, during the recession.
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