Correctional mental health services inhumane
ACT Greens MLA Deb Foskey today expressed deep concern for detainees at the Belconnen Remand Centre (BRC) suffering from mental illness, following the release of the Human Rights Commission audit of ACT correctional facilities.
“Our prisons have become substitute accommodation for people with a mental illness. Placing detainees in a correctional facility as poor as the BRC will only exacerbate their illness” Dr Foskey said today.
“Until we have a therapeutic forensic mental health facility in the ACT, I do not believe we can say that detainees with a mental illness are housed in a safe environment.”
“Currently, male and female detainees with a mental illness are housed in BRC’s D-yard, along with young and vulnerable prisoners. The area is described as a ‘holding yard’ by officers, who are also distressed by the situation.”
“Mental health services are in high demand at the BRC, and yet health staff are stretched to capacity and do not have a constant presence at the Centre, nor its D-yard.”
“The Human Rights Commissioner has found that the inadequacy of health care and conditions in which detainees with a mental illness are housed, may, in combination, violate the prohibition of inhumane treatments in detention.”
“The ACT Government must dramatically increase the provision of mental health services and staff to the BRC as soon as possible.”
“Until a forensic mental health facility is provided through the new prison, more appropriate accommodation should be provided to mentally ill detainees as a matter of urgency.”
“We as a society are judged by how we treat our weakest members, and in this case, the detainees with severe mental illnesses need our immediate help” Dr Foskey said.
