Forensic Mental Health Services

Facts and figures on current provision

Forensic mental health services provide care for people who have come into contact with the criminal justice system and have been transferred to secure NHS services.

This factfile brings together figures from many sources about forensic services and shows that:

  • Fewer than half of people admitted to secure hospital stay for more than five years.
  • Most people are admitted to secure hospitals from prison.
  • Over one-third of people detained in 2004 had committed violent offences.
  • About 40 people per quarter have to wait in prison for over three months before a transfer to secure hospital.
  • Fewer than one patient in ten re-offends within two years of being discharged from secure hospital.
  • In 2005, 26 people died while being detained in a secure hospital.

You can download the factfile and read more in our press release.