The Prison Reform Trust along with 19 organisations and individuals working in criminal justice and healthcare have sent a joint letter to the Secretaries of State for Health and Justice, Sajid Javid and Dominic Raab—two years since the prison service introduced a full lockdown with severely restricted regimes in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The letter calls for:
- immediate additional mental health support for prisoners;
- individual mental and physical health checks for everyone in custody; and
- support for frontline health and justice staff.
It also strongly advises that a thorough review of the impact of the pandemic on the mental and physical health of people in prison is conducted.
A similar letter has also been sent to the respective ministers and healthcare officials in Wales.