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Mental health care for prisoners

Each prison is prepared to deal with and help prisoners with mental problems. Most work with their local NHS trust to provide the help and medication prisoners need.

All new offenders entering prison are screened for both mental and physical health problems when they arrive. Prisoners receive a full health assessment within five days of their arrival at prison.

If your friend or family member is found to have mental problems, or is believed to be at risk of suicide, they will be referred for a full mental health assessment and treatment.

If the problem is severe, they may be tranferred to a hospital.  

Advice and help if a prisoner is mentally ill

If you have a friend or family member with mental health problems who is in the prison or probation system, you can get help and advice for them.

For general help and information, contact a non-profit group that works with and for the mentally ill. They can point you in the right direction to find the kind of help you need.

Together

The non-profit group Together funds and works with more than 80 organisations that help mentally ill people in the criminal justice system.

You can contact them by phone (020 7061 3400), or visit the website (linked below) for more information.

Rethink

Rethink is a non-profit group offering mental health service and advice. It can help with issues including housing, employment and legal problems.

For help, contact their national advice helpline (020 7840 3188). You can find out more on their website (linked below).

• Together Opens new window

• Rethink Opens new window

Problem-solving courts

The Ministry of Justice has been trialling problem-solving courts specifically for prisoners with mental health problems or learning disabilities.

In prisons in Brighton and Stratford, specialised mental health courts are being used whenever an offender is found to have mental problems.

Judges and staff working in these courts receive special training in dealing with mentally ill prisoners. They take the criminal's mental state into account when hearing a case and deciding on punishment.

Because they specialise in working with mentally ill people, the courts provide good access to health care for offenders. They also offer sentences specifically designed to ensure prisoners gets help while in jail or on probation.

If the trial is successful, the system will be gradually expanded to prisons throughout the country.

More useful links

• Support for prisoners and their families

• Prison procedures and prisoners' rights

• Police and removing someone to a 'place of safety'