72 per cent of male and 70 per cent of female sentenced prisoners suffer from two or more mental health disorders.  One in five prisoners have four of the five major mental health disorders.  You will find press statements made about this major issue here.

Key facts

• Many prisoners have mental health problems. 72% of male and 70% of female sentenced prisoners suffer from two or more mental health disorders. Twenty per of prisoners have four of the five major mental health disorders.
• Neurotic and personality disorders are particularly prevalent - 40% of male and 63% of female sentenced prisoners have a neurotic disorder, over three times the level in the general population. 64% of male and 50% of female sentenced prisoners have a personality disorder.
• According to the NHS plan, around 5,000 prisoners at the time, between 5-8%, have severe and enduring mental illnesses. The plan also said that, by 2004, “all people with severe mental illness will be in receipt of treatment, and no prisoner with serious mental illness will leave prison without a care plan and a care coordinator.”
• A significant number of prisoners suffer from a psychotic disorder. 7% of male and 14% of female sentenced prisoners have a psychotic disorder; 14 and 23 times the level in the general population.
• 10% of men and 30% of women have had previous psychiatric admission before they come into prison.
• A fifth of Scottish prisoners reported that they had been put on ACT (Scottish Prison Service Suicide Risk Management Process) and 38% of prisoners indicated that they had experienced mental health problems.
• A total of 23,420 self-harm incidents were recorded during 2006 by the Prison Service. 
• Women accounted for 11,503 or 49% of total incidents – even though they form only around 6% of the prison population.
• Latest available data shows that in the three months from 1 January – 29 March 2007, there were 2,839 female self-harm incidents (down against 3,200 in the first three months of 2006). In the same timescale, there were 2,904 male self-harm incidents (compared to 2,636 in the same period in 2006).  
• A high proportion of prisoners have been treated in psychiatric hospitals - 20% of male and 15% of female sentenced prisoners have previously been admitted for in-patient psychiatric care.
• The number of restricted patients under the Mental Health Act in England and Wales was 3,395 at the end 2005, the highest for a decade. 779 of the patients were transferred from prison to hospital. Those released from restricted hospitals in 2003 have a 7% reconviction rate after two years. 
• In the quarter ending December 2006, 38 prisoners had been assessed and were waiting three months or more before being transferred to hospital. Many prisoners also have long waits before an assessment takes place.
• Mental health in-reach teams are operating in 102 prisons.
• Prison regimes do little to address the mental health needs of prisoners. Research has found that 28% of male sentenced prisoners with evidence of psychosis reported spending 23 or more hours a day in their cells - over twice the proportion of those without mental health problems.
• Prisoners with severe mental health problems are often not diverted to more appropriate secure provision. The Chief Inspector of Prisons has estimated, based on visits to local prisons, that 41% of prisoners being held in health care centres should have been in secure NHS accommodation.  Research has found that there are up to 500 patients in prison health care centres with mental health problems sufficiently ill to require immediate NHS admission.  The government has committed itself to a programme of standardising court diversion schemes across the country.
• Figures for 2006 showed a 30% rise since 2002 in the transfer of seriously mentally ill prisoners to specialised psychiatric facilities.
• The resettlement needs of prisoners with mental health problems are not being met. Research found that 96% of mentally-disordered prisoners were put back into the community without supported housing, including 80% of those who had committed the most serious offences; more than three quarters had been given no appointment with outside carers.
• Mental health issues amongst prisoners are often linked to previous experiences of violence at home and sexual abuse. About half of women and about a quarter of men in prison have suffered from violence at home while about one in three women report having suffered sexual abuse compared with just under one in 10 men.
• Half of all those sentenced to custody are not registered with a GP prior to being sent to prison.
• In a thematice review of the care and support of prisoners with mental health needs, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons said that “prison has become, to far too large an extent, the default setting for those with a wide range of mental and emotional disorders.”

For full references, please see the Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile