Following a three year campaign led by the WI in partnership with the Prison Reform Trust, the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke have announced plans for setting up a national service for the diversion of the mentally ill from the justice system into treatment and care.
The two cabinet ministers committed funding for 100 "diversion sites" across England and Wale at a reception in Westminster yesterday hosted by the WI and the Prison Reform Trust.
The announcement forms part of the government’s commitment, made in the Ministry of Justice’s green paper, Breaking the Cycle, for the roll out of a full national liaison and diversion service by 2014.
A prison service survey published in November revealed that 12% of inmates had a mental illness or depression as a longstanding illness. The WI’s "care, not custody" campaign began three years ago after the death in Manchester prison of a Norfolk WI member's mentally ill son.
Andrew Lansley said each death in custody was a tragedy for those involved and that there needed to be more early intervention with diversion as a “corner stone” of care and support.
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