Editorial | The mentally ill and prisons

It is disturbing that there is still no clear government policy or programme to address the problem of mentally ill people who come into conflict with the law and find themselves in jail and unable to plead.

If there is indeed a policy, it appears to be, if not a secret one, something that is not widely known. So, nearly four years after Chief Justice Bryan Sykes’ task force on the issue recommended the establishment of a forensic hospital to deal with such cases, judges continue to craft their responses largely on the go.

While such a facility cannot be merely called into existence, the task force suggested that training of its specialist staff, some of whom might begin by working with the courts and correctional institutions, should begin early. Unfortunately, there has been no significant discussion or debate of these proposals by either the justice minister, Delroy Chuck, or the health minister, Christopher Tufton. Maybe they will take up the issue during Parliament’s coming sectoral debate.

The fate of mentally ill people who exist in the crevices of prisons and lock-ups was highlighted again in this week’s report, by this newspaper, of the case of a man who spent 42 years in jail on a murder charge without trial, until Justice Leighton Pusey ordered his release into the care of his family. The man (whose name was withheld to give him “an equitable chance” of reintegration into society) was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Cases not dissimilar to this one have popped up in Jamaica’s court system for decades: people are charged for crimes; they are unable to plead and ordered held at the court’s pleasure; they are sporadically brought to court; they go through the same process until, eventually, they are forgotten about. Or nobody bothered.

NO FORENSIC FACILITY

It was hoped that this assault on human dignity, and insult to the ideals of justice, would quickly end after the 2020 probe by the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) that unearthed, among others, the case of Noel Chambers, an 81-year-old man, who subsequently died in prison after 40 years without trial. Mr Chambers, too, was unfit to plead.

INDECOM is the agency that investigates complaints of abuse or excessive use of force by members of the security forces – including correctional officers. By the time it discovered Mr Chambers, “his clothing was filthy, and his body showed evidence of chronic emaciation”.

While Mr Chambers’ physical condition might have been the worst, he was not the longest-serving prisoner without trial. George Williams, for instance, spent 50 years, his entire adult life, in lock-up before being released in the aftermath of INDECOM’s report.

Of the estimated 300 people with mental illnesses who were in prison at the time of INDECOM’s study, half of them were awaiting trial.

It is against that backdrop that Justice Sykes established his task force to look into the problem. At the same time, prison officials were called to court to determine what had gone wrong, and were told to follow the law in accounting for prisoners who were unfit to plead or who were otherwise being held at the pleasure of the court.

But as the task force pointed out, prisons are not good places to keep, and care for, people with mental health illnesses. There has been no forensic facility to provide this kind of care for over four decades, since it was discontinued at the Bellevue Hospital.

CREATURES OF THE LAW

In any event, these days it is acknowledged to be good science that institutional settings are not the best at ensuring a return to good health of people suffering with mental illnesses.

Indeed, that was broadly acknowledged by Justice Pusey in the recent case, even though he was not inclined to release the subject unconditionally. Prison officials will be required to visit the man every four months to monitor his treatment and care regime.

Recently, Justice Dale Palmer also struggled with the question of what care was available to mentally ill people in prison, while presiding over the case of a schizophrenic soldier who killed his wife.

These issues, including the cases of the long-term prisoners who have fallen between the cracks, demand urgent attention.

While we welcome the initiative of the director of public prosecutions (DPP), Paula Llewellyn, in assigning “a very small unit” to work with the courts on the long-term cases, that is not sufficient. For there are larger issues impacting on the circumstances of care for mentally ill people who come into conflict with the law, whose resolutions are clearly the obligation of the Government. Judges, after all, are creatures of the law and can act only in accordance with their powers therein.

An important measure of a State is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. And the measure and obligation loom larger when the vulnerable people are directly in its care.