How a desperate Cork family's pleas for help ended with their beloved Kay in prison 

Kay Barrett has a history of serious mental illness. As her family and the health system ran out of options, they were advised to turn to the justice system for a safety order. Now she is in prison, and her family want her out.

Kay Barrett in 2015. Kay is not due for release from Limerick Prison until November this year.

As Kay Barrett stood at the rear of the courtroom, agitated and upset, her solicitor spelled out for the judge just what had transpired.

"Kay is hearing voices in her head, she feels threatened," Jack Purcell told Judge James McNulty in Clonakilty court last February.