Where is the best place to put a convicted person with a long history of psychiatric illness?
This is the question a high court judge posed yesterday when, for the second time in as many days, she was faced with a man with a long criminal and mental history who was awaiting sentencing.
Justice Maureen Crane-Scott, presiding over the Continuous Criminal Sessions in the No. 5 Supreme Court this year, said the instances of accused people with histories of mental illness had been increasing.
“And it is becoming an issue,” she noted.
The issue, the judge said, was where should the court send them so they would get the help that they needed.
“Do we send them to the structured environment of HMP Dodds where they get structured help?
“Do we send them to the Psychiatric Hospital, or do we send them, as some judges in the region have been doing, to their families and let their families take them to the hospital?” (HLE)
