Bellevue, not prison

Executive Director for human rights group Stand Up for Jamaica Maria Carla Gullotta wants legislative changes to reverse the practice of detaining persons assessed with serious mental illnesses in correctional facilities.

Speaking at the launch of a research paper dubbed “Justice for All” at The University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters yesterday, the human rights activist said that once the person is assessed and is unable to plead, steps should be made to send the individual to a facility where he can be treated for his illness.

“Once they are in conflict with the law they should be assessed by a psychiatrist before the trial, and according to the mental challenge, they should be directed from prison to a mental institution where they can receive medical treatment,” Gullotta told The Gleaner in a subsequent interview.

She called attention to the more than 200 prisoners who are mentally ill and not fit to plead but have been detained in correctional facilities for extended periods of up to decades.

The Stand Up for Jamaica advocate also commented on the difficulty correctional officers faced in managing mentally ill inmates at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, which was designed to hold 800 inmates but now houses some 1,700 inmates.

Mental-health emergency

Gullotta, who is also director of the Homeless Shelter in Portland, warned that if the country did not tackle mental illness from its beginning in terms of prevention, assessment, and direction, “we will see an increased number of people on the streets”.

Describing it as an emergency, she said that if the country fails to address mental-health challenges in its early stages, this could lead to a ballooning of homeless people on the nation’s streets.

Noting that an estimated 80 per cent of the homeless people had mental-health challenges, Gullotta said there was an increasing number of young people who are showing up on the streets who should be assessed and treated before the situation worsens.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding said the problem of persons who are suffering from mental illness and held in correctional centres has been a longstanding one.

Speaking with The Gleaner on the sidelines of the launch of the research paper, Golding said that the practice of holding persons who are not fit to plead in correctional facilities for years should be discontinued as a prison is not a hospital for mentally ill persons.

He said there should be a forensic facility for hosting persons who are not able to stand trial or have developed a mental illness while in prison where they can be held safely and treated appropriately.

“It is not fair on the Dpartment of Correctional Services or the society for persons with mental illness to be held as if they are persons convicted in a court of law and able to assimilate themselves in those facilities,” he said.

Golding suggested that a section of the Bellevue Hospital in Kingston could be used to house these mentally ill persons.

He said that there are people at the Bellevue Hospital who can be released but their families are reluctant to receive them. Golding indicated that they are occupying space that needs to be freed up.

“The problem is multifaceted but is wrong and unsustainable to house mentally ill persons in our prison system because that’s not what it is designed for, and it’s a last resort that is unsatisfactory,” he said.

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