90% of North's inmates have mental problems, says prisons chief

Up to 90% of the North's prisoners have mental health or other personality disorders, the head of the prison service said today.

Director Robin Masefield added two thirds of the estimated 1,500 inmates had the reading and mathematical ability of an 11-year-old or less and warned many were long-term unemployed with chronic disease and alcohol addiction.

He was speaking at a conference on promoting healthy prisons in Lisburn.

“It has been widely recorded that as many as 90% have some mental health or personality disorder problems,” he said.

“Two thirds have the reading and mathematical ability of an 11-year-old or less when they come to us.”

The health and social services authorities will take over responsibility for welfare in prisons from next April.

The Prison Service director said they had appointed a manager for prisoner health and established addiction services and other policies but lobbyists claimed inmates with serious difficulties shouldn’t be behind bars.

Howard League for Penal Reform director Frances Crook said: “It is dealing with the symptom and not the problem. We are sending people to prison and it isn’t dealing with the problem.

“The Prison Service isn’t a health service and should not be accepting people who need mental health care.

“There are a small number of people who are career criminals but the majority of people have got caught up in offending (because of their condition) and would be better dealt with elsewhere.”

The majority of prisoners are short sentences for crimes like non-payment of bills and it can be difficult to treat their problems in the short time available.

Mr Masefield said good links between the health and prison services were essential and added jails should provide a standard of health care better than that available in the community.

“We have established a three-year programme with the University of Ulster to improve mental health screening on committal at Maghaberry (high security prison),” he added.

Other steps included:

:: Engaging three cognitive behaviour therapists to work with inmates at the youth prison at Hydebank Wood;

:: Setting up an IT system for health workers to access data

:: A revised self-harm and suicide policy.

Partnership Boards are being established at each prison chaired by the governor and the chief executive of the local health trust.