§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people classified or registered with prison doctors as suffering from mental illness are at present in Her Majesty's prisons. [15287]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. John Battle, dated 20 February 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of people at present in prison who are mentally ill.This information is not available in the form requested. Certain information is collected centrally about prisoners with mental disorders, a term which includes, in addition to prisoners with mental illnesses, those suffering from mental impairment, severe mental impairment and psychopathic disorder.On 20 January, the most recent date for which such information is available, 163 prisoners were recorded as awaiting removal or transfer to a psychiatric hospital under provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983; 853 prisoners were recorded as being sufficiently mentally disordered to be occupying beds in prison health care centres; and 1,380 prisoners were recorded as requiring some form of mental health care but not transfer to hospital or in-patient treatment in a prison health care centre.