Need for mental health clinics in prisons

Appealing to his colleagues to start a prison clinic in their areas, Dr. Gihan Abeywardena said that a study at the Bogambara Prison had revealed that 79.2% of prisoners on death row suffer from some kind of mental illness and 58.3% of them were clinically depressed.

He had begun clinics at Bogambara, Anuradhapura and Wariyapola Prisons and was appreciative that two of them are being continued by the regional psychiatrists.

“It is so disheartening to see so many of our mentally ill clients suffering in overcrowded prisons and serving sentences for offences that they are suspected to have committed due to their psychiatric disorders. It is vital that all prisoners undergo a psychiatric assessment prior to getting sentenced for capital punishment for murder and serious crime,” he added.