Care versus custody: Challenges in the provision of prison mental healthcare
Care versus custody: Challenges in the provision of prison mental healthcare
Prison mental health in-reach teams (MHIRTs) were introduced to provide the same range and quality of services to prisoners with severe and enduring mental health problems as is available to the general population (‘equivalence of care’). Drawing on a qualitative study of a MHIRT at an English prison, this chapter highlights the difficulties of striving to provide equivalent care in an anti-therapeutic environment which prioritises security and control. It argues that the team were heavily co-opted into penal governance and risk management activities and faced considerable hostility from those who saw prisoners as undeserving of care. It questions the notion of ‘healthy prisons’ and recommends that resources currently invested in the prison system be redirected into efforts to create socially just communities.
mental illness, prison, discipline, medical officers
Mills, Alice
6226f5d2-8d70-469c-a3c4-671bf0ff08fa
Kendall, Kathleen
7c1c7abc-513b-4da5-b99d-268cd1d8bc58
2018
Mills, Alice
6226f5d2-8d70-469c-a3c4-671bf0ff08fa
Kendall, Kathleen
7c1c7abc-513b-4da5-b99d-268cd1d8bc58
Mills, Alice and Kendall, Kathleen
(2018)
Care versus custody: Challenges in the provision of prison mental healthcare.
In,
Mills, Alice and Kendall, Kathleen
(eds.)
Mental Health in Prisons: Critical Perspectives on Treatment and Confinement.
(Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology)
1 ed.
Palgrave Macmillan.
Record type:
Book Section
Abstract
Prison mental health in-reach teams (MHIRTs) were introduced to provide the same range and quality of services to prisoners with severe and enduring mental health problems as is available to the general population (‘equivalence of care’). Drawing on a qualitative study of a MHIRT at an English prison, this chapter highlights the difficulties of striving to provide equivalent care in an anti-therapeutic environment which prioritises security and control. It argues that the team were heavily co-opted into penal governance and risk management activities and faced considerable hostility from those who saw prisoners as undeserving of care. It questions the notion of ‘healthy prisons’ and recommends that resources currently invested in the prison system be redirected into efforts to create socially just communities.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: August 2018
Published date: 2018
Keywords:
mental illness, prison, discipline, medical officers
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 422046
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/422046
PURE UUID: b5e52469-238d-4960-bff1-f32af0856566
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 13 Jul 2018 16:30
Last modified: 22 Feb 2024 18:16
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Contributors
Author:
Alice Mills
Editor:
Alice Mills
Editor:
Kathleen Kendall
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