It is inappropriate that severely mentally ill prisoners are kept in prison, sometimes in segregation. Despite the best efforts of prison staff this can result in periods of inhumane treatment. We welcome the proposal to introduce statutory time limits for transferring prisoners with acute and severe mental illness to appropriate mental health inpatient beds, but this will not solve the underlying problem which is the shortage of appropriate secure mental health inpatient facilities.

It is inappropriate that severely mentally ill prisoners are kept in prison, sometimes in segregation. Despite the best efforts of prison staff this can result in periods of inhumane treatment. We welcome the proposal to introduce statutory time limits for transferring prisoners with acute and severe mental illness to appropriate mental health inpatient beds, but this will not solve the underlying problem which is the shortage of appropriate secure mental health inpatient facilities. Type: conclusion | Number: 20 | Paragraph: 78 | Response status: under_consideration Government response: The Government needs to fully consider all of the impacts of repealing this power in order to ensure its removal would not result in any vulnerable defendants coming to harm. We are therefore currently reviewing the use of the power in order to better understand the full range of areas in which the