[A-List] UK society: social inclusion success

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Mentally ill 'languishing in overcrowded jails'
http://society.guardian.co.uk/crimeandpunishment/story/0,8150,1399023,00.html
David Batty
Wednesday January 26, 2005

Overcrowded jails are struggling to cope with rising levels of severe mental
illness, with nearly two suicides a week and epidemic levels of self-harm,
the chief inspector of prisons warned today.

Prisons in England and Wales can do little more than "skim the surface of
the severity and breadth of mental illness" among their inmates, which last
year resulted in 95 suicides and 17,678 incidents of deliberate self-harm,
according to the annual review of the chief inspector, Anne Owers.

Prison staff resuscitated 228 prisoners who attempted to kill themselves,
she reported.

The review said that, despite the NHS taking over responsibility for prison
healthcare last year, the scale of mental health problems is so great that
only inmates with "severe and enduring" illnesses are treated. Meant most
mentally disordered prisoners still fail to receive support.

"In most prisons, there is inadequate provision to look after mentally ill
prisoners," the report said.

The chief inspector blamed jail overcrowding for the poor care of mentally
ill prisoners. The prison population has levelled off at around 75,000 -
still 24% over capacity - and is set to rise to 87,000 by 2009, according to
the most optimistic estimates from the home office.

Other problems identified in the report include:

· Insufficient funds and resources to provide prisoners with adequate
education, training and other purposeful activities;
· Patchy efforts to find prisoners work and housing on their release;
· Little if any drug testing carried out at weekends, and scarce treatment
for crack and cocaine users.

Ms Owers said: "Our prisons are still 24% overcrowded and are operating
perilously close to full capacity. They are still recording nearly two
self-inflicted deaths a week; they are still discharging prisoners who have
been unable to benefit from the education, training and resettlement support
they need. The levelling off of the prison population is, in reality, the
difference between a manageable crisis and an unmanageable one.

"The key message of this report is that ours is a prison system that has
progressed in many areas, and which is capable of making even more progress.
But it is trying to sustain those improvements against an undertow of
continuing, unremitting pressure, and an increasingly needy and demanding
population."

Martin Narey, chief executive of the new National Offender Management
Service - which will bring together the prisons and probation services -
said that, while the level of prison overcrowding is still high, it has been
reduced in recent months.

But he said: "We are not complacent and will continue to develop and improve
on the areas highlighted in this report."