Mentally disabled offenders ‘exported’ for special care

DOZENS of intellectually disabled people who commit crimes are being sent abroad for specialist care because the state has nowhere to put them.

At least 35 and possibly as many as 90 such offenders are out of the country, or in need of the services available abroad, at any one time, mainly in Britain.

Doctors say it is difficult to get an exact figure because most are attached to a myriad of voluntary learning disability services here, while others are wrongly placed in general psychiatric services. The State only has services to cater for offenders who are mentally ill, not mentally handicapped.

A group of doctors from the Irish College of Psychiatrists, who have produced a report on the subject, have called for an end to the practice of exporting the problem and for the money used to pay for services abroad to be invested in specialist care units here.

They say two 30-bed units are needed to cater for existing out-of-state placements and added: “There may be a need for a development of a further 30-bed unit in the future.”

Their report, which will be launched today by junior health minister Jimmy Devins, reveals serious neglect of an estimated 431 offenders with learning disabilities who have committed crimes ranging from theft and joyriding to arson, battery, sexual assault and murder. The report says there is evidence of “significant unmet need” in this area.

“The population with learning disability who offend does not easily fit into existing services,” it says. “Existing facilities are substantially general adult psychiatric services and do not offer the specialist facility for the assessment, care and treatment required by this specialist group,” it says.

“In addition, those who are unfit to stand trial because of a learning disability are placed in the National Forensic Mental Health Service’s Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, rather than a learning disability service.” Eleven years ago the Department of Health said three 10-bed units were needed to cater for offenders in this category but they were not provided. Two years ago, the department said one 10-bed unit would meet requirements, but nothing has happened.

The report rejects this saying it “falls far short of the provisions recommended in the literature and would not even accommodate those placed out of state”.