Letter to the Editor
The Kingston Whig Standard
November 29, 2005
"Stop mistreating mentally ill inmates"
The Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, a rights protection agency for inpatients in the Ontario psychiatric hospitals is disturbed by the story "Mental illness plagues prisons (November 5)."
According to the story, Correctional Investigator of Canada Howard Sapers states that "Canadian prisons have become warehouses for the mentally ill, who are often left to languish in solitary confinement instead of receiving treatment. He also notes that the number of federal inmates with mental health problems has more than doubled in the last decade but that care has deteriorated woefully during this period."
In a progressive, fair and just society, is it reasonable that we would deny inmates access to proper physical and mental health care and treatment? Why do we think it is acceptable to treat individuals with mental illness in the manner mentally ill inmates are being treated? Is it because they are vulnerable and dis-enfranchised? Is it because they have no voice to influence change? Is it because of the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness? We must ask ourselves these tough questions.
The correctional system must improve access to mental-health care and treatment for inmates while preserving their fundamental legal and civil rights. That is what we have heard from advocacy groups, families, inmates and, sadly, in recommendations from coroners' inquests over the years. Yet it appears that little has been done to address the issue and improve access to mental-health care.
The system must include a full range of mental-health services that support inmates in their quest for wellness, recovery and rehabilitation. These include assessment, referral, treatment, counseling, crisis-intervention services, and case-management supports to assist with re-integration into the community. In addition, access to rights protection, rights advice and independent advocacy services must be guaranteed.
Until these services are in place, the rights violations will continue to occur, inmates will continue to go without treatment, and there will be little or no recourse for those who should be in hospital and not jail. We can, and must, do better so inmates with mental illness receive the services and supports that they may want and need.
Sincerely,
David Simpson
Director (A)
Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office
Toronto
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