Received from: POA
Congress notes with concern that prisons are being used as a so-called place of safety for people who are mentally unwell, a practice the 2022 Mental Health Bill was supposed to have stopped. A report found that prisoners are being held in prison for an average of 85 days before being transferred to secure hospitals for important medical interventions. This leads to appalling levels of distress for some of the most unwell with nurses and prison officers suffering real harm as a result of violence against them and responding to an increasing number of deaths in custody.
Congress instructs the general council to campaign for properly funded health interventions in our communities that deal with mental health issues and divert people away from prison and for those individuals to get the treatment they deserve from health care professionals. This must include an increase in the number of regional secure beds delivered by NHS providers and a commitment to withdraw from private secure mental health provision.
Congress should note this is a strain on our public services through a lack of funding and care in the community failing due to a lack of funding and resources with courts using prisons as the default position as they know they will get 24-hour care and attention.
POA