NINE OUT OF TEN YOUNG PEOPLE LOCKED UP IN PRISON HAVE MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

In a new report published today by the Prison Reform Trust Troubled Inside: Responding to the Mental Health Needs of Children and Young People in Prison, PRT argues that too many young people who have mental health problems end up in prison, and that the experience of imprisonment can be damaging.
Recommendations made in PRT's report have received widespread support from a range of Children's organisations. They have been endorsed by: Association for Professionals in Services with Adolescents, ChildLine, The Children's Society, National Children's Bureau, NSPCC, National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations, Standing Committee on Youth Justice, Trust for the Study of Adolescence, The Who Cares? Trust, and YoungMinds. The foreward to the report is written by Dr. Sue Bailey, Chair of Child and Adolescent Faculty, Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Key recommendations include early interventions to prevent young people with a mental illness entering prison, improved assessment procedures, an extension of restorative justice measures, a reduction in the use of remand, the development of secure settings which meet the mental health needs of young offenders and an end to children being held in prison.
The report's main findings are:
• Over 90 per cent of imprisoned young offenders have at least one, or combination of, the following: personality disorder, psychosis, neurotic disorder, or substance misuse.
• Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and manic depression are significantly higher amongst male sentenced prisoners that young people in private households. Ten per cent compared to 0.2 per cent.
• Many children and young people arrive in prison with a complex history of disturbance and distress. Young people in prison have a significant range of identified risk factors; over 30 per cent have spent time in local authority care, more than 60 per cent left school before they were 16 years old. Nearly 30 per cent of young women in prison report that they have been sexually abused.
• Ten per cent of young men and 40 per cent of young women in prison take some form of medication, such as anti-depressants or sleeping tablets.
• Since 1990, 19 children have killed themselves in prison. In 2000, three children and thirteen 18 - 20 year olds committed suicide whilst held in prison. Rates of self-harm have increased significantly in the last five years and are higher amongst young offenders than other young people. There were 944 recorded incidents of self-harm between 1998 and 1999. These figures underestimated the true extent of self-harm behaviour amongst young people in prison as many will not come forward for medical attention having harmed themselves.

Notes for editors:
• There are on average 11,000 under 21 year olds held in prison at any one time, of whom 500 are female, nearly 3000 are children. Of young people in prison, 76 per cent will be reconvicted within two years of release.
• Young black people are over represented in both the prison and mental health systems. Home Office statistics on race show that around 20 per cent of prisoners under 21 years of age are from black and minority ethnic groups.
• Conditions in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) are some of the worst across the prison system. Bullying is rife in YOIs and is likely to affect an individual's mental health. The average assault rate in YOIs is over 34 per cent, although Castington YOI in Northumberland had an assault rate of over 90 per cent. In 2000/2001 the Prison Service Key Performance Indicator target throughout the prison estate for assaults was nine per cent.
• The effects of overcrowding and lack of purposeful activity are evident in young offender establishments; in 2000-2001, 17.2 per cent of prisoners were held two to a cell designed for one. 55 per cent of sentenced male young prisoners and 28 per cent of female prisoners spend over 19 hours a day in their cells.
• Many young people are held far from their homes, which makes contact with their families difficult. Prisoners under 21 years of age are held an average 51 miles from home, whilst those under 18 are held an average 54 miles from home.
• The Director General has acknowledged that the Prison Service is institutionally racist. An internal investigation launched at Feltham YOI after the racist murder of Zahid Mubarek by his mentally ill cell mate, found that Black and Asian prisoners were twice as likely to be the subject of control and restraint by officers than white prisoners.
• Children in prison are the only group of children in England and Wales who are excluded from protection provided by the Children's Act 1989. The main principle of the Children Act 1989 (and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) is that the welfare of the child is paramount, and should be safeguarded and promoted.
Speaking today, the report's author, Finola Farrant, said that:
"There is clear evidence that too many young people who have mental health problems end up in prison and that the experience of prison can damage their mental health. Rather than imprisoning troubled young people and excluding them still further, more constructive and effective community interventions should be pursued."
Director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon called for a prompt response to the public health problem revealed in this report. She said:
"Vulnerable children and young people need secure care and treatment not punishment and neglect. Working together, the Department of Health and the Home Office must act now to introduce earlier assessment and intervention for troubled children in the community, respond to the largely unmet mental health needs of disturbed young people in Young Offender Institutions and transfer those who are severely mentally ill from prisons to health settings."