Centre for Mental Health

Sainsbury Centre welcomes mental health court pilots

2 July 2009

Mental health courts offer a new way of diverting people with mental health problems from prison, Sainsbury Centre director of prisons and criminal justice Sean Duggan said today.

Welcoming the launch of two pilot mental health courts by the Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw, Sean Duggan said: "Too many people with mental health problems end up in our prisons, both on remand and on sentence. Imprisoning people with severe mental illnesses can have a devastating effect. Short prison sentences especially cut people from their families and communities at high cost to the taxpayer while doing nothing to stop them offending again.

"Problem-solving mental health courts linked to ordinary Magistrates' Courts and coupled with well-run diversion teams can promote a better way of managing offending by people with mental health problems. We look forward to the evaluation of the mental health courts and seeing the difference they can make to people's lives.

"Diverting a single person from a short prison sentence can cut the costs of crime by some £20,000. But this cannot be done if good quality diversion schemes are not at hand in every court and in every police station in the land.

"We call on the Government today to commit to creating a national network of Criminal Justice Mental Health team. These teams were recommended in the Bradley Report. We believe they could achieve a dramatic reduction in the number of people with mental health problems who get imprisoned. And they can make the criminal justice system more effective in reducing offending and more efficient in its operation."