Prison should not be a waiting room for mental health services

Chronic underfunding, no outpatient service framework and a lack of supported accommodation have all brought us to the point where our prisons are full of the mentally ill, writes Charles O'Mahony

Cork Prison. Ireland is using prison to warehouse people experiencing mental health crises who should be receiving treatment and services outside of prison. File picture: Larry Cummins

The recent RTÉ documentary, The Psychiatric Care Scandal, has dragged into the national spotlight what families have lived through for years and what official reports have repeatedly warned about: Ireland is using prison to warehouse people experiencing mental health crises who should be receiving treatment and services outside of prison.

The bravery of the families who spoke out, recounting the suffering of loved ones detained as prisoners while experiencing serious mental health crises in overcrowded prisons deserves recognition and serious reflection. Their stories are not isolated tragedies. They are the predictable outcome of a system that has failed for decades to build meaningful diversion away from the criminal justice system to mental health services.