Mental health
Mental health
Jamaica
Persons held in Jamaica’s prisons who have been deemed ‘unfit to plead’ could be moved into a more fitting environment if the Government accepts the recommendations of the Mental Health and Homelessness Task Force, established by Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton.
Source — The Cleaner
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Mental health
South Africa
In February, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services introduced a Bill amending the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (CPA) to Parliament. The Bill seeks to stop the incarceration of accused persons who are mentally ill or intellectually disabled in prisons.
Source — All Africa
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Mental health
United States
One inmate, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, became so distraught after months in the prison’s isolation unit that he began talking to himself and counting compulsively.
Another, who suffers from schizoaffective disorder, declined so much in isolation that he smeared himself with feces.
Source — The Boston Globe
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Health
Mental health
Violence
United States
Secrecy, mistrust and the shadow of interrogation at the American
prison limited doctors’ ability to treat mental illness among detainees.
Dr. Rosecrans, now retired from the Navy, led one of the mental health teams assigned to care for detainees at the island prison over the past 15 years. Some prisoners…
Source — New York Times
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Women
Health
Mental health
United Kingdom
From self-harming in groups to starvation and self-immolation, women are overwhelmingly more likely than men to hurt themselves while incarcerated. So why isn’t the prison system responding?
Maria, 29, is a disability rights activist who uses a wheelchair. She also has borderline personality disorder…
Source — Broadly
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Health
Mental health
United Kingdom
More prisoners are being diagnosed with mental health problems requiring hospital treatment, official figures obtained by the Guardian show.
The number of male prisoners being transferred to hospital under the 1983 Mental Health Act grew by more than 20% between 2011 and 2014 in England and Wales, said…
Source — The Guardian
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Europe
Health
Mental health
France
Detention Conditions, Lack of Treatment Increase Suffering —
Thousands of men and women with psychosocial disabilities in French prisons are at risk of suicide or harming themselves because of the neglect of their physical and mental health, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
Source — Human Right Watch
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