Mr. Fergal Black:

Absolutely. I stand over my view that there are people in custody who have committed a minor infraction within the criminal justice system but whose behaviour is odd or erratic etc. I am not blaming anybody but they end up in custody, especially in a remand setting and in Cloverhill Prison. If you meet the consultant psychiatrist and our teams of healthcare people or officers in Cloverhill, they will tell you they come across people every day who are in for minor offences. It has been outlined to me that somebody was picked up for shouting in public and ended up in Cloverhill Prison for some kind of public order offence or, in another case, for defecating in a taxi. These are people with a real underlying condition. They are young men, typically suffering from schizophrenia, many of whom are actively psychotic and, unfortunately, have been failed by mental health services in the community. Many of them are homeless so they have all of those combinations of complexities and they end up in our custody. Our staff do their best with them, but those people who have committed very minor infractions within the criminal justice system should be in a therapeutic environment.

The Central Mental Hospital service in Cloverhill set up the diversion programme. Every year, Dr. Conor O'Neill and his team divert approximately 150 prisoners. They go back to the judge in court, tell him or her that they have found the person a residential or community placement with a mental health service, the judge discharges the case and the person is then discharged to that mental health service. It works very well. We need to extend that to all centres where we take in remand prisoners, such as Cork, Limerick and Castlerea. It is a very good service and it is something my colleague, Mark Wilson, spoke about that is being examined as part of the task force. Very simply, some people are being sent to custody when custody is the wrong solution.