Mentally ill people in prisons are being failed

Difficulties facing mentally ill prisoners are not news to those working on the front lines

In the absence of appropriate care pathways and properly resourced community psychiatric facilities, our prisons are absorbing the brunt of a mental health crisis they are ill-equipped to manage. File picture: Dan Linehan

Over two nights this week, RTÉ Investigates laid bare an ongoing psychiatric care scandal. In Ireland today, many people with severe mental health problems are not receiving the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

Instead, in the absence of appropriate care pathways and properly resourced community psychiatric facilities, our prisons are absorbing the brunt of a mental health crisis they are ill-equipped to manage.