What we do

We aim to achieve change through research and analysis, piloting and evaluating new approaches and promoting good practice, bringing in examples from the UK and abroad. We will continue to champion the voice of the service user in mental health care.

The mental health of offenders has long been neglected. Prisoners have high levels of mental ill health, yet few get adequate treatment or support. Recent reforms in prison health care have improved the quality of care for offenders with severe mental health problems, but serious gaps remain. We have identified a number of priorities for the most urgent improvement:

Diversion

One of our priorities is keeping people with serious mental health problems out of the criminal justice system through better custody and court diversion schemes.

The quality and availability of such schemes varies across England and Wales. We want to support the design of a national model of a court / custody diversion and liaison service based on the best available evidence. We will conduct research to build on this evidence base where there are gaps.

In Prison

Most prisoners with mental health problems still receive little or no help whilst in prison or on leaving, this includes those with moderate depression and anxiety, personality disorders and those with concurrent mental health and substance misuse problems (dual diagnosis).

We aim to develop an effective and comprehensive model of prison mental health care, with particular emphasis on primary mental health care, services for people with personality disorder and a model of integrated working for prisoners with dual diagnosis.

Resettlement

The resettlement experience of most prisoners is poor with most receiving little meaningful help on leaving prison, the position for those with mental health problems and especially those with dual diagnosis is even worse as these have even greater vulnerability.

We aim to support the development of effective resettlement for prisoners with mental health problems ensuring continuity of care between prison and the community, appropriate support for dual diagnosis needs, meeting the accommodation needs and increasing access to employment and meaningful activity.

Young People and Criminal Justice

More young people are being drawn into the criminal justice system and many of these have significant mental health problems. Access to adequate mental health provision for these young people is limited.

We aim to design a mental health pathway for young people in contact with the Criminal justice system.

Networks

Here are some of the criminal justice networks that our staff are involved in.

The Mental Health and Criminal Justice Third Sector Liaison Forum

We are members of this forum, which is a collective of several mental health and criminal justice organisations, all of whom have the shared aim of improving the lives and opportunities for rehabilitation of people involved in the criminal justice system. The Forum has a particular focus to work together and share best practice and ideas, to support better mental health and emotional well-being.

WHO - Health in Prison Programme

Sean Duggan, Director of the Criminal Justice Programme, sits on the steering group for HIPP. HIPP's main purpose is to support Member States in improving public health by addressing health and health care in prisons, and to facilitate the links between prison health and public health systems at both national and international levels.

Main contacts