Mentally ill inmates need attention

THE EDITOR, Sir:

CARLA GULLOTTA, in a recent letter to the editor, intimated that the Ministry of National Security was working on a policy on how to specifically treat, care, and house mentally ill persons who are incarcerated, but who are unfit to plead.

Such a policy is long overdue and needs to be expeditiously implemented.

As a Jamaican who is extremely concerned about the constitutional rights of citizens from all backgrounds, I believe mentally ill inmates should be housed in a specially established facility operated, funded, and directed by the Department of Correctional Services. Those approximately 18 mentally ill inmates, according to Ms. Gullotta, have not been receiving the required level of medical care so warranted, and this serious issue needs to be urgently addressed by the authorities.

Under no circumstance should mentally ill convicted inmates be sentenced and sent to serve their sentences in a normal prison facility. It is contrary to prison and mentally ill conventions. Correctional officers should be trained by the medical sector regarding how to treat incarcerated mentally ill inmates.

The Government should establish and equip half-way houses for mentally ill persons who have been hospitalised and are recovering.

There are so many mentally ill persons living on the streets of Montego Bay. What assistance and treatment are being given to them by the Cornwall Regional Hospital and the St James municipality? What is your position on this situation, Mayor Homer Davis?

ROBERT DALLEY, Esq Montego Bay