Centre for Mental Health

Sainsbury Centre welcomes 'visionary' House of Commons report on justice reinvestment

14 January 2010

"Diverting people with mental health problems from custody offers excellent value for public money and should be a priority for justice reinvestment," Sainsbury Centre joint chief executive Sean Duggan said today.

Welcoming the report of the House of Commons Justice Committee, Cutting crime: the case for justice reinvestment, Sean Duggan said: "The Justice Committee has rightly diagnosed a 'crisis of sustainability' in the criminal justice system. Too many people with mental health problems are in prison or hospital custody for lack of community alternatives. This is both a waste of money and a waste of lives.

"Much of the £1.3 billion that the Committee believes could be saved through justice reinvestment could be achieved by diverting people with mental health problems from custody to their communities.

"We warmly welcome the Committee's view that there is a strong case for investing in diversion and liaison schemes for people with mental health problems and for more preventive work with those at risk of offending. We are also pleased that the Committee points to the untapped potential of community sentences as alternative to prison.

"We endorse the Committee's call for the creation of an equivalent body to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for criminal justice. A body of this kind could help to focus resources on what provides good value for money in reducing crime and in rehabilitating those who offend.

"We agree with the Committee that for too long prisons have been viewed as a 'free commodity' by other public services. Every day, we are spending public money on interventions that do not work or are counter-productive. This has to end.

"The key to justice reinvestment, however, will be to find the initial funding to create alternatives to custody in advance of cutting the prison population.

"Today's report sets out a visionary programme for reform of a system that cannot be sustained. As public finances tighten, we need to take action now to begin the process of reinvestment and stop wasting money and lives on imprisoning people with mental health problems who can be managed safely outside custody."