Proposal to keep mentally ill people out of prisons

A major shift in the way people with mental illness are handled in the criminal justice system has been recommended by officials in the departments of health and justice and the gardaí.

Key to their plan is a formal diversion policy that would keep people with mental illness away from the courts and out of jails, with much swifter access to a greater range of mental health services used instead.

They say dedicated senior Garda officers should be appointed to act as full-time decision-makers to ensure consistency where an arrested person’s mental health is in question.