‘The Chief Inspector’s findings are shocking but not surprising. Many local IMBs have repeatedly told ministers of the unacceptable delays to the 28-day target to transfer severely unwell prisoners to hospital. The longest IMBs have found and reported on is over 550 days, nearly twenty times over target.

We have been clear about the issues at referral, assessment, and transfer stage – such as multiple assessments, disagreements over commissioning responsibility, and unclear pathways – that all prevent prisoners from receiving much needed treatment. Today’s inspectorate report compounds our findings even further.

The Chief Inspector’s case reviews show severely unwell prisoners who have been held in segregation, sometimes self-harming or requiring constant observations. The wider findings of IMBs show that care and separation units are too often used by the prison service to manage mentally unwell prisoners who face lengthy delays in their transfers to hospital. These prisoners are stuck in isolation while their mental health continues to deteriorate, simply because there is nowhere else for them to go.

Without providing appropriate mental health provision in the community, and better oversight and monitoring of transfer timelines, it is likely that prisons will continue to be used as a stop gap for mentally unwell men and transfer targets will continue to be regularly exceeded.’ 

In January IMBs published a thematic report on segregation being used as a way of managing and caring for prisoners with severe mental health needs. Mental health crisis forces prisoners into inhumane isolation – Independent Monitoring Boards (imb.org.uk)

The long wait: A thematic review of delays in the transfer of mentally unwell prisoners (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk)