Inmates 'at risk' in police cells

By Dominic Casciani
Home affairs reporter, BBC News

The prison population has hit new records in recent weeks

The health and safety of prisoners is being jeopardised by putting them in ill-equipped cells at police stations and courts, doctors' leaders have said.

The British Medical Association said such cells were not equipped to deal with drug and mental health issues.

About 400 inmates are held in emergency cells every night to help ease prison overcrowding in England and Wales.

The Ministry of Justice said "as far as possible" vulnerable prisoners were not held in court or police cells.

The number of inmates in custody hit a record 81,918 last week, surpassing the previous high of a week earlier.

Figures from last Friday show the prison population was 110 inmates short of its maximum safe capacity, excluding 408 being held in police cells.

There were 2,000 fewer inmates behind bars on the corresponding weekend in 2007.

'Flimsy system'

The BMA said forensic physicians, the doctors attached to police stations, were "struggling to cope" with police and court cells ill-equipped to deal with potentially suicidal individuals.

Jack Straw has been given £55m extra to tackle overcrowding

Dr George Fernie, of the BMA, said it was "impossible" to start prisoners' treatment for mental health or drug problems if they were being held in police cells.

"Recent increases in the number of prisoners entering the flimsy and makeshift system of temporary prison accommodation have left doctors struggling to cope," said Dr Fernie.

"Placing prisoners in cramped police and court cells without full health care will simply contribute to the appalling re-offending rates in the UK."

The BMA said some prisoners had been "locked out" of their jail because their bed had been re-allocated while they were at court.

This in turn had disrupted crucial drug programmes designed to tackle re-offending, it said.

Consultation

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: "We take the medical needs of prisoners seriously.

"Prisoners held in police and court cells are usually moved back to prison after one night, though two nights is more common at the weekend.

"The criminal justice system can act as a gateway to health services for vulnerable people who find it hard to access mainstream health and social care services.

"The government is therefore consulting now on the health care available to offenders across the whole criminal justice system."

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has been given an extra £55m for the overcrowding crisis, with £35m earmarked for holding prisoners in police cells.

Ministers are thought to be considering changes to the current temporary early release scheme, introduced last summer, to further ease overcrowding.

The Prison Service also this week moved to make more use of lower-security cells by changing policy on prisoners on indeterminate sentences.

These inmates, held until they can prove they are safe to be released, will no longer be only housed in higher security jails.