Hospital and/or Prisons – a shared responsibility for the mentally disordered offender

The latest Trent Study Day took place at the Nottingham Belfry Hotel on June 4 2010. As its title implied, it focused on some of the tensions, challenges and opportunities in providing for the mentally disordered offender.

The differences in the numbers in each secure establishment (80,000 nationally in prisons and 4,000 in secure hospital accommodation) and their relative costs (approximately £2,500/annum for the prisoner and approximately £195,000/annum for the secure patient) forces us to think as to whether or not our current configuration of services is optimal. 

Speakers from the Department of Health, The Sainsbury Centre as well as from provider units at HMP Belmarsh and in Bristol provided the audience much food for thought on the challenges arising from this area for us all in the future. 

The day concluded with a spirited debate on the motion that ‘current financial provision in secure hospital services are wasted and ought to be directed to prisons’. Through some uncertainty in the voting, the result was an honourable draw. 

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