‘EPIDEMIC OF MENTAL ILLNESS IN FEMALE PRISONS AS RECORD NUMBERS INJURE THEMSELVES AND COMMIT SUICIDE’

A report published today by the Prison Reform Trust reveals that two thirds of women in prison are suffering from a mental disorder with record numbers being driven to suicide or self harm by lack of appropriate care. 

At the end of June ten women in prisons in England had taken their own lives, including four under 21 years old. Last year there were a total of nine female suicides, the highest ever recorded. A third of women in prison harm themselves because they are so distressed and disturbed.

Supported by the Nuffield Foundation, the report, ‘Troubled Inside: Responding to the mental health needs of women in prison’ calls on the government to take urgent action to stop women with mental health problems being sent to prison and to invest in mental health provision, drug treatment and support and supervision in the community. It highlights the shocking levels of mental illness amongst female prisoners:

* Two thirds of women in prison show symptoms of at least one neurotic disorder such as depression, anxiety and phobias. More than half are suffering from a personality disorder. Among the general population less than a fifth of women suffer from these disorders.

* Half of the women in prison are on prescribed medication such as anti-depressants or anti-psychotic medicine and there is evidence that the use of medication increases whilst in custody.

* Women in prison have a high rate of severe mental illness such as schizophrenia or delusional disorders – fourteen per cent compared to less than one per cent in the general population.

* Out of all the women who are sent to prison forty per cent say they have attempted suicide at some time in their life.

The report says that, despite a new improved health policy and some dedicated staff, the Prison Service is unable to provide adequate care for these women. Mental health provision in jails is of a much lower standard than elsewhere in the NHS.  In many cases prison regimes simply exacerbate mental distress.

The report highlights the possibility of coerced treatment and the use of the prison discipline system to manage the disruptive behaviour of women with mental health problems.

To address what it calls ‘the tragedy of wasted lives’ the report puts forward an agenda for action. The main recommendations are that:

* The Government should focus on early intervention and invest in accessible and appropriate mental health care and drug treatment designed to respond to the needs of vulnerable women and girls.

* Court diversion schemes need to be available across the country so that offenders who are acutely ill or at risk of suicide can be given hospital places or the treatment they need.

* The Government needs to develop community penalties where female offenders can pay their debt to society and get out of trouble without causing unnecessary damage to themselves and their children. It must establish small, local support and supervision centres which provide access to mental health care and drug treatment. Linked to these centres, secure provision should be developed for the very few female offenders who present a risk to the public.

* The Prison Service needs to meet NHS standards, policies, protocols and targets particularly regarding the use of medication, patient involvement, training for doctors and health care staff. The Service should respect and listen to women prisoners and develop models of self-help. An independent agency should monitor mental health provision in prisons.

A former prisoner who is available for interview via PRT said:

“During the two and half years of my incarceration I was to discover the depths of despair one can fall into, believing I was losing my mind, believing I was dead, believing I was buried alive, believing I would never be free.  I learnt about self- harm, physically and emotionally, I learnt how to survive, yet at the same time how it feels to want to die every day….. Prison is not a place for the mentally ill, and too many women are there already that should not be.” 

Speaking today the director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon, said:

“So many women in prison are mentally ill, so much of their offending is a public health, rather than a criminal justice, concern, this long standing problem could be solved, not by investing in more women’s prisons, but by providing mental health care, drug treatment, court diversion and women’s support and supervision centres across the country.

This report should act as a warning to the courts not to use women’s jails as assessment and treatment centres or so-called places of safety. Prison is a punishment of last resort. It is cruel to lock up mentally ill women and it does lasting harm to them and their families.”

Notes to Editors:

1. On July 4th 2003 the female prison population of England and Wales was 4,597. an increase of 191 per cent in the last ten years. Ten years ago, in 1993, the average female prison population was 1,577.  Five years ago, in 1998, it was 2,680. 

2. There are currently 17 female prisons. The rapid rise in the female prison population led to four prisons, most recently HMP’s Downview and Buckley Hall, being re-roled from men’s prisons to women’s prisons.

3. Fifty-four per cent of female remand prisoners and 41 per cent of sentenced prisoners report some degree of drug dependency in the year before prison.

4. Women are held an average of 63 miles away from home, which makes contact with their families difficult.  This can impact on successful resettlement, and mental wellbeing, as links with community support are limited. 

5. One in four women in prison has spent time in local authority care as a child.  Nearly 40 per cent of women in prison leave school before the age of 16 years, almost one in ten were aged 13 or younger.

6. Over half of women in prison report that they have suffered violence at home and one in three have experienced sexual abuse. 

7. The vast majority of women prisoners are serving short sentences for non-violent crimes. Now 53 per cent of women are reconvicted within 2 years of release from prison.  The reconviction rate has steadily increased from 38 per cent in 1992.

8. Supported by the Open Door Women’s Trust, in September PRT is publishing a report on women on remand. This will reveal that some courts are using custodial remand as a means to obtain psychiatric reports on vulnerable women offenders.