Mental illnessis a condition not a crime

HAVING been a social worker in the field of mental health care, both in Ireland and Britain, I welcomed your well-balanced editorial (Irish Examiner, July 24) in which you exposed “the scandal of using Irish prisons as ‘psychiatric waiting rooms’ — the equivalent of A&E trolleys in overcrowded hospitals” and the failure by the State to address the problem of mental illness in society.

How very true.

People are not particularly interested in what happens to prisoners until it is brought home to them that there is such an archaic approach to dealing with people who are often extremely distressed, ill and in need of the benefits of advances in medical care, all of which the rest of the population has, but which these people are clearly unable to access.

Mental instability is a condition, medical experts advise, which covers a wide field. No lay person, such as a prison officer or a member of the Garda Síochána, is in a position to recognise the variations of it.

A man or woman could be found wandering through the streets causing a general nuisance and appear to be drunk. To get the culprit out of the way, a charge of vagrancy could find that person ensconced in prison, even for a short time. That person could be an innocent victim of some kind of psychiatric disorder and the consequences of even one night in prison could be disastrous.

The possible effect of any type of prison regime should be studied carefully as part of the overall question of rehabilitation.

Our prison officers are doing a very good job but sadly, at times, are under very trying and difficult conditions.

In the 1980s, when I was chairman of the South Cork Health Committee of the SHB, I fought long and hard for the rights of the mentally ill.

Some members, I recall, took issue with my remarks. Twenty-five years on, the pain and suffering continues among many psychiatrically ill people.

They are still human beings, regardless of whether they are incarcerated — and when they have a psychiatric illness, they are sick people who could benefit enormously from the medical and therapeutic improvements that are occurring.

It is important we reach out to psychiatrically ill people, regardless of where they are.

I am certain your editorial brought hope and consolation to those afflicted in a forgotten world.

Cllr Noel Collins

St Jude’s

Midleton

Co Cork