Better care coming for mentally ill inmates – Samuda
THE GOVERNMENT is moving to provide significantly improved care for the mentally ill in correctional facilities across the country, Senator Matthew Samuda has said.
There are an estimated 250 inmates with mental problems in the penal institutions, said Samuda, who has ministerial charge over the correctional service.
Last year, the death in prison of 81-year-old Noel Chambers, who languished in inhumane conditions at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, triggered national outrage.
In a report last year, the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) provided graphic details of Chambers, whose body bore bedsores and bites from bedbugs. He had been held at the pleasure of the governor general after being charged with murder on February 4, 1980. He died in January 2020.
Samuda said that an internal audit into the death of Chambers and the treatment of other mentally ill inmates is expected to be tabled in the Houses of Parliament shortly.
Responding to questions in the Senate on Friday, Samuda said his ministry was seeking to partner with the Ministry of Health and Wellness to build a forensic psychiatric ward to ensure that those in need of care receive it.
“There is an issue as it relates to access to the sort of care that they would need, because we simply do not have enough psychiatrists and psychologists on the establishment that we need, based on the number of inmates that we have,” he said.
Samuda disclosed that the Government has sought assistance from international partners to address the crisis.
“That issue in terms of providing not best-practice level care, but significantly improved care while they are in our facilities, will be dealt with shortly,” he told his senatorial colleagues.
Speaking in her capacity as president of the Jamaica Psychiatric Association, Dr Saphire Longmore, emphasised the need for the establishment of a forensic hospital with adequate forensic service in terms of care.
PSYCHIATRIC FACILITY
She noted that with the establishment of a forensic psychiatric facility, the delivery of care would be more economical in the long term.
“We also have to recognise that part of the individual is their environment and the community, so that hospital also has to help see to the mental health of the community because that aspect impacts the patient,” Longmore, a government senator, told The Gleaner on Monday.
On Friday, Opposition Senator Floyd Morris indicated that there were persons in penal institutions with disabilities other than mental concerns.
Morris called for an audit of inmates in the correctional centres to ascertain the extent of persons with disabilities in order to address special needs.
Samuda agreed with Morris that there was need for a full assessment of the prison population to identify how many persons have disabilities.
However, he said that the implementation of a proper information technology-based system to capture this data would allow the Government to plan policy to address the various concerns going forward.