Prisoners of the mind: let’s handle with care

AS a campaigner for prisoners’ rights and the need for appropriate rehabilitation projects to help reconstruct their lives and those of their families, I congratulate you for your editorial of June 2, under the heading “Mentally ill prisoners denied rights”.

I am deeply concerned about mentally ill prisoners.

Medical experts have advised that mental instability covers a wide field and no lay person such as a prison officer or policeman is in a position to recognise its variations.

A man or woman could be found wandering the streets causing a general nuisance and appearing to be drunk.

To get the culprit out of the way, a charge of vagrancy could find the person ensconced in prison, even for a short time.

That person, according to the medical experts, could be a perfectly innocent victim of some kind of psychiatric disorder and the consequences of even one night in prison could be disastrous.

A report into the prison service in Britain included some dire warnings about the consequences of locking up, people with psychiatric problems.

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

Thanks to prison officers and staff in this country for their splendid job of work, sometimes under very trying and difficult conditions.

Cllr Noel Collins,

‘St Jude’s,’

Midleton,

Co Cork