Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health

Titan Prisons will damage mental health and should be put on hold, says Sainsbury Centre

28 August 2008

Plans to build three new Titan prisons should be put on hold until better ways of diverting people with mental health problems from prison have been developed, the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health said today.

In a response to the government consultation on Titan prisons, Sainsbury Centre said the three new prisons would need to invest at least £7 million in mental health services between them. Without it, they will be in danger of creating a mental health crisis and will fail to help prisoners to rebuild their lives.

Titan prisons could exacerbate already high levels of mental distress if prisoners are kept further from their families in larger, more impersonal establishments. And they will make resettlement harder by reducing contact with the services prisoners will need in the community when they are released.

Sainsbury Centre prisons and criminal justice director Sean Duggan said: "The government is at risk of making mental ill health in prisons an even bigger problem through Titan prisons. By investing £2.8 billion in three new prisons, funds for diverting people with mental health problems out of custody are at risk of being over-stretched.

"We call upon the Government to put its plans for Titan prisons on hold until its review of provision for people with mental health problems in the criminal justice system, led by Lord Bradley, is complete.

"We believe that investment in community sentences and in smaller units for those who need to be in custody, especially for women and children, are better ways of solving the prison crowding problem than building Titan prisons."

Download our Titan Prisons paper here (126 KB)

The Ministry of Justice consultation on its plans for Titan prisons ends today, 28 August.

Lord Bradley’s review of mental health in the criminal justice system is due to report to the Ministry of Justice later in 2008.