§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the mentally-disordered prisoner who has been waiting for a place in a hospital in the Wessex regional health authority since 2 December 1977 is still waiting; if so, where the prisoner is held; what is the prisoner's age; from what he or she is suffering; and why a hospital place has not yet been found.
§ Mr. BrittanThe prisoner was recently transferred to a special hospital.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the
Prison Under 1 month 1 to 3 months 3 to 6 months 12 months to 2 years Parkhurst 1 (23) 1(44) 1(25) — — Pentonville 1 (69) — — — Winchester 1 (28) — — — Wormwood Scrubs 3 (25, 32 and 41) 1(23) 3 (21, 31 and 44) 1(25) Birmingham — 1(27) — — Wakefield — — 1(32) — Wandsworth — — 1(47) 1(33) Dartmoor — — 1(26) Lincoln — — — 1(42) The Lincoln prisoner suffers from severe subnormality within the meaning of section 4 of the Mental Health Act 1959; all the others suffer from mental illness within the meaning of that section.
Three prisoners have been accepted in principle for admission to hospital. Nine cases have only recently been submitted 24W mentally-disordered prisoner who has been waiting for a hospital place in the area of Oxford regional health authority for between 13 months and two years is still waiting; if so, where the prisoner is held; what is the prisoner's age; from what he or she is suffering; and why a hospital place has not been found yet.
§ Mr. BrittanThis prisoner was discharged from Dartmoor prison on 29 April on the expiry of his prison sentence. He is 26 years old and has been diagnosed as suffering from mental illness within the meaning of section 4 of the Mental Health Act 1959. The regional health authority did not offer him a place in a local psychiatric hospital and it was not considered that he met the criteria for admission to a special hospital.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Ormskirk on 3 March, he will give the, details of the age, sex, illness and location of those mentally-disordered persons who are still in prison awaiting transfer to National Health Service hospitals and indicate, in each case, the length of wait and the reason for the delay.
§ Mr. BrittanOn 22 April 1980, 19 male prisoners recommended for transfer to local psychiatric hospitals under section 72 of the Mental Health Act 1959 were awaiting vacancies. The distribution of these prisoners in the prison system showing their ages in parenthesis and the length of time during which they had been awaiting transfer is given below:
and the appropriate regional health authorities are still making enquiries about the availability of hospital vacancies. Five prisoners are considered by regional health authorities to need a greater degree of security than is available in local hospitals in their regions; efforts to find suitable vacancies for them 25W are continuing. In two similar cases, the prisoners concerned have been released to out-patient care after 22 April 1980 on the expiry of their sentences.