Charities unite to call for changes in penal policy to improve health of offenders

For immediate release, 4 March 2008

Mental health and criminal justice charities today called for penal policy to take more account of the health and social care needs of offenders.

In a joint response to the Government’s Improving Health, Supporting Justice strategy, charities including Mind, Nacro and Rethink said major changes to the way offenders are dealt with by the police, by the courts, in prison and on release were needed.  Unless more people are diverted from custody and given better help to rehabilitate themselves, reoffending will continue at a high level and offenders will not get the support they need for mental health problems.

The charities urged the Government to re-balance penal policy so that more people can be diverted from custody: especially women and children. They called for social care to have a bigger role in the management of offenders to improve their prospects of having somewhere to live and a family to go back to.  And they said the Government should re-consider its apparent shelving of the proposed Custody Plus scheme to help with the resettlement of offenders.

Paul Cavadino, Chief Executive of Nacro, the crime reduction charity, said: “Nacro welcomes the government's consultation on this important issue.  But the real challenge will be in providing an action plan to implement the changes that are so clearly needed.  We must ensure that criminal justice system is able to identify offenders with mental health needs at the earliest possible stage.”

Paul Jenkins chief executive of Rethink, said: “Too many people with severe mental illness end up in prison rather receiving the treatment they need.  The impact on people’s lives of going to prison cannot be overstated, it is devastating.  The government must invest in training our police, duty solicitors and forensic physicians to identify mental health problems.   This investment must go hand in hand with ensuring treatment and support is then available rather than overburdening prisons with more people who just shouldn’t be there.” 

Angela Greatley, chief executive of Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, said: “A clear majority of offenders have mental health problems.  Many are not adequately resolved or get worse because of their contact with the criminal justice system.  The Government’s proposed offender health and social care strategy should help to resolve this problem.  But without major changes to the way we imprison people with mental health problems the opportunity to make a real difference is in danger of being missed.”

Dr Marcus Roberts, head of policy at Mind, said: "We hope that the transfer of responsibility for prisoners' healthcare from prison authorities to the NHS will lead to higher standards of healthcare for prisoners, whose health needs have long been neglected. By far the biggest health inequality for prisoners is in mental health care, despite the high levels of need. Access to quality mental health services is often an important part of reducing a prisoner's risk of reoffending and the social costs associated with that. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, for example, has the potential to be hugely beneficial for prisoners' health and chances of resettlement."