Psychotic Men Remanded in Custody to Brixton Prison

1994 ◽  
Vol 164 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Robertson ◽  
Susanne Dell ◽  
Katie James ◽  
Adrian Grounds
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Hospital Admission ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Medical Intervention ◽  
Present System ◽  
Major Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Medical Referral

All referrals to medical officers in Brixton Prison over a five-month period in 1989 were examined. This paper reports the progress through this remand prison of those men who were considered to be suffering from a major psychiatric disorder. Many men had been charged with relatively minor offences. The net effect of medical intervention was to delay release from custody. Because of the administrative delays inherent in the system of medical referral and hospital admission under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983, it was those prisoners who were most ill who tended to remain in prison for the longest periods. Judged in terms of its efficiency to ensure speedy treatment for mentally ill remanded offenders, the present system is regarded as cumbersome and extremely inefficient. It is suggested that greater use should be made of section 48 of the 1983 Act to divert mentally ill, remanded offenders from prison.

scholarly journals Consent to Treatment by the Mentally Ill and Mentally Handicapped—An Anomaly in the Mental Health Act 1983

1983 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 145-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridgit C. Dimond
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Mentally Handicapped ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Consent To Treatment

I would like to bring to light an apparent oversight in the new statutory rules relating to consent to treatment by the mentally ill and mentally handicapped. This will have very serious consequences for the management of patients who are on short-term detention orders. The provisions relating to consent to treatment set out in Part IV of the Mental Health Act 1983 are the first attempt to cover by statutory controls the doctor's clinical freedom to prescribe treatment for his compulsorily detained patient. In addition, certain of the new provisions (which take effect from 30 September 1983) apply to the voluntary patients as well.

The Spectre of Criminalization: Remand Admissions to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute, British Columbia, 1975–1990

1996 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip M J Brinded ◽  
Faye E Grant ◽  
Jeanette E Smith
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Psychiatric Institute ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
History Of ◽  
Forensic Psychiatric

The history of the Forensic Psychiatric Institute (FPI) of British Columbia is reviewed through a description of the 3,500 remand admissions to the Institute between 1975 and 1990. Individuals charged with only minor offences and those who were certified under the Mental Health Act 1983 and subsequently had their charges stayed are examined in more detail. Results appear to suggest that these two groups are particularly vulnerable to the process of criminalization. The possible link between criminalization of the mentally ill and deinstitutionalization is explored.

scholarly journals Detention – the grey area

1989 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-13
Author(s):  
Oscar E. Daly
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Sexual Deviancy ◽  
Grey Area ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
The Government

In September 1978 the Government published a review of the Mental Health Act (1959). This review was prompted to a large degree by an increasing awareness of the rights of the mentally ill and by an awareness among psychiatrists of the limits of their management procedures. The proposals of this review were largely incorporated into the Mental Health Act (1983). Among the proposals so incorporated was one that persons could not be detained in hospital against their will for assessment or treatment “by reason only of promiscuity or other immoral conduct, sexual deviancy or dependence on alcohol or drugs”.

Inadequacies in the Mental Health Act, 1983 in Relation to Mentally Disordered Remand Prisoners

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akintunde Akinkunmi ◽  
Kevin Murray
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Hospital Admission ◽  
Full Description ◽  
Mentally Disordered ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Assessment And Treatment ◽  
Set Up

There are widely recognized problems regarding access to NHS facilities for mentally disordered remand prisoners (Robertson et al., 1994). The Bentham Unit was set up in February 1994 to provide the earliest possible hospital admission for mentally disordered remand prisoners. Over the first twelve months of the service's operation we assessed 150 and admitted 62 remand prisoners: a full description of the service is in preparation. Because admission is restricted to remand prisoners, the inadequacies of current legislation in allowing effective, uninterrupted care for remand transfers have become very apparent. There have been recent proposals to review the 1983 Mental Health Act (Murphy, 1995) and we suggest that provisions for assessment and treatment of mentally disordered remand prisoners should be revised in this context.

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