Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 25 Jul 1996

Vol. 468 No. 4

Written Answers. - Psychotic Prisoners.

Liz O'Donnell

Ceist:

662 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice if she will give details of the specific response her Department has made to the problem of unattended and unassessed psychotically ill prisoners in Mountjoy Prison as referred to in the 1993 and 1994 Visiting Committee Reports; the extent of the waiting list for admission and evaluation of undiagnosed psychotically ill prisoners from Mountjoy Prison to the Central Mental Hospital; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15793/96]

Liz O'Donnell

Ceist:

663 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice if she will give details of the specific response her Department has made to the reports of the Visiting Committee of Mountjoy Prison that psychotically ill prisoners are being put into padded cells in the prison for many days at a time; her views on the slowness and adequacy of prisoner assessment in the prison; the steps, if any, which have been taken to improve the situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15794/96]

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Owen)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 662 and 663 together.

I do not accept that there is, or was, a problem of "unattended and unassessed psychotically ill prisoners in Mountjoy Prison" in 1993 or 1994 or the period since then. There is, I freely acknowledge, a long-standing problem in relation to a waiting list for admission to the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) for prisoners who are mentally disordered and are deemed, on medical examination, to require in-patient treatment in that setting. The waiting list in question fluctuates considerably in size from time to time. The Central Mental Hospital operates under the aegis of the Department of Health and the Eastern Health Board. Responsibility for its staffing and admissions policy ultimately rests with those bodies. At the request of my Department, a working group was established by my colleague, the then Minister for Health in 1994 to examine,inter alia, the accommodation provision in the Central Mental Hospital in respect of mentally disordered prisoners. This group included senior officials from my Department, including the Director of Prison Medical Services. The group reported to the Minister for Health in mid-1995 and its recommendations, which included steps to increase the number of beds available for prisoners, were accepted by the Minister for Health. The main step to increase bed availability was the transfer to local psychiatric hospitals of older patients at the hospital who were deemed to no longer require treatment in conditions of high security. Implementation of this policy recommendation is ongoing and I understand that several patients have in fact been transferred under this policy to local psychiatric hospitals in their home areas.

Recent court decisions have led to an increase of inward referrals to the Central Mental Hospital from the health boards and this has, to an extent, offset the potential gains from the outward placement of older Central Mental Hospital patients to which I have already referred.