Prisons and the human rights of persons with mental disorders

This paper deals with issues of human rights related to persons suffering from a mental disorder in the prison system. In particular, I consider whether the rights afforded prisoners with mental disorders in various international conventions and resolutions are being implemented in legislation and case law.

There have been advances in recent years in the Western world, particularly in the USA and the UK, with regard to prisoners' rights. In the UK, there is now a partnership of responsibility between the National Health Service and the Prison Service so that these organizations would become jointly responsible for delivering health care to prisoners. In the USA, the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 and the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 go a long way in ensuring the basic rights of the imprisoned individual.

The large number of mentally ill inmates necessitates a continuous safeguarding of the rights of these individuals. It is now widely acknowledged that prisoners should be entitled to expect the same standard of health care as that provided to persons with unrestricted freedom, and have similar access to psychiatric beds. Further research is needed to see whether the improvement in their rights also improves their mental health and the long-term outcome of their illness.