A Survey of Sentenced Prisoners Transferred to Hospital for Urgent Psychiatric Treatment over a Three-Year Period in One Region

Abstract

This study describes a survey of sentenced prisoners who were transferred to psychiatric hospitals in South Wales under s.47 of the Mental Health Act of 1983 (England & Wales) over a three-year period. During this time there were 29 such transfers of 25 prisoners and all were male. Forty-four per cent were returned to prison to complete their sentence once their mental disorder was treated. Fifty per cent of these prisoners who became patients had a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia, 13 per cent of recurrent depressive disorder, 4 per cent of a drug-induced psychosis, 4 per cent of hypomania and 6.6 per cent had some form of personality disorder.