Pathways through the criminal justice system for prisoners with acute and serious mental illness

Slade, Karen, Samele, Chiara, Valmaggia, Lucia and Forrester, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2510-1249 2016. Pathways through the criminal justice system for prisoners with acute and serious mental illness. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine 44 , pp. 162-168. 10.1016/j.jflm.2016.10.007

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Abstract

Purpose To evaluate pathways through the criminal justice system for 63 prisoners under the care of prison mental health services. Results A small number (3%) were acutely mentally ill at prison reception, which may reflect the successful operation of liaison and diversion services at earlier stages in the pathway. However, a third (33%) went onto display acute symptoms at later stages. Cases displaying suicide risk at arrest, with a history of in-patient care, were at increased risk of acute deterioration in the first weeks of imprisonment, with a general absence of health assessments for these cases prior to their imprisonment. Inconsistencies in the transfer of mental health information to health files may result in at-risk cases being overlooked, and a lack of standardisation at the court stage results in difficulties determining onward service provision and outcomes. Conclusions Greater consistency in access to pre-prison health services in the criminal justice system is needed, especially for those with preexisting vulnerabilities, and it may have a role in preventing subsequent deterioration. A single system for health information flow across the whole pathway would be beneficial.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Medicine
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1752-928X
Date of Acceptance:	17 October 2016
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2022 10:31
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/139734

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