The Bradley Report suggested ways to improve the treatment of people with mental health problems in the criminal justice system. This briefing by the Sainsbury Centre for mental health examines these reports in terms of the mental health of offenders. The summary is as follows:
The Bradley Report was the result of an independent review of the experience of people with mental health problems and people with learning disabilities in the criminal justice system. Commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and published in April 2009, it made some 82 recommendations for change. Among those recommendations were important new proposals to tackle the over- representation of people with mental health problems in prisons in England.
They include the proposed creation of a national network of Criminal Justice Mental Health teams to divert people towards support services from police stations, from courts and following release from prison.
The report also called for a 14-day maximum wait for people who need to be transferred from prison to hospital for urgent mental health treatment and for the NHS to take on responsibility for providing health services in police stations. The Bradley Report can and should lead to major changes in the way offenders with mental health problems are supported and treated in this country.
If implemented, it can not only improve the mental health of offenders but make communities safer and ultimately reduce the costs to the taxpayer of criminal justice.