22/07/2025
News
Invest in better mental health support for people in the criminal justice system, say charities
Investing in community mental health services would help to ease the pressure on the prison system by diverting more people from custody, two charities have said today.
A new policy paper from Centre for Mental Health and the Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact) says that an element of the £9 billion earmarked to build new prison places should be allocated to community mental health care for people in contact with the criminal justice system.
The paper warns of a mounting mental health crisis in prisons, where mental ill health is “the norm, not the exception”. Rates of self-harm in prisons have more than trebled in the last decade, from 25,843 in 2014 to 79,027 in 2024. Recent data shows that, among prisoners, 56% of men and 74% of women report having mental health problems.
The charities say that prison overcrowding and short-staffing contribute to an environment which exacerbates poor mental health and impedes rehabilitation. However, chronic underfunding of community alternatives to custodial sentences funnels people towards prison sentences, which undermine people’s mental health and make reoffending more likely. The paper says that investing a proportion of funding for new prison places could enable better rehabilitation and reduce pressure on prison places. This could facilitate an expansion of Mental Health Treatment Requirements for people given community sentences, which have been demonstrated to reduce reoffending.
The paper says that while prisoners in a mental health crisis should be transferred to hospital within 28 days, too many people wait much longer. This means that profoundly unwell people are being made to wait for weeks and months for vital treatment, often in ill-suited environments.
The charities say that families and carers often play a crucial role in caring for loved ones in prison, particularly when they are unwell. But too often, they report being ignored or “locked out” of the system. The statement calls for the Government and NHS to dismantle these barriers and expand the role of families and carers in their loved ones’ treatment.
Andy Bell, Chief Executive at Centre for Mental Health, said: “Prisons are not a safe place for people struggling with their mental health, and for many they make it worse. We cannot just build our way out of the crisis in prison places. We also need safe and effective alternatives for people who can safely be diverted from custody, including better use of the successful community sentence Mental Health Treatment Requirement. And we urgently need to speed up prison to hospital transfers to meet planned new Mental Health Act provisions to get people to a bed within 28 days.”
Andy Keen-Downs CBE, Chief Executive of Pact, said: “The prison capacity crisis is also a mental health crisis. The spiralling levels of self-harm over the last decade point to the severity of the situation and the levels of unmet need.
“In particular, seriously mentally unwell prisoners who should be receiving treatment in secure hospitals languish in prison cells where they get worse, not better. This systemic failure places huge pressure on prison officers who are simply not trained to deal with these situations.
“The Government’s Mental Health Bill and the Sentencing Review are positive steps. However, rather than planning for an ever-expanding prison population, we should follow the evidence about what works to get people better and reduce reoffending. That means diverting them from custody and investing in community mental health services.”