§ Mr. John Browneasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what situations Her Majesty's prisons are required to accept responsibility for mentally disturbed prisoners; and how many persons are at present in prison who would be in mental hospitals if there were places for them.
§ Mr. MayhewPrison department establishments have to accommodate all persons who are sent to them by the courts. There are, however, provisions in the Mental Health Act 1959 for the transfer to psychiatric hospitals of prisoners who are suffering from mental disorder of a nature or degree which warrants their detention in hospital. On 30 June 1981, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 320 inmates whom prison medical officers considered to be mentally disordered within the meaning of the 1959 Act. Of these, 144 were unsentenced, and if they were convicted the courts would have an opportunity when passing sentence to consider alternatives to imprisonment including the possibility of ordering detention in a psychiatric hospital under the 1959 Act.