Mary Henry (Independent)

I move amendment No. 137:

In page 16, between lines 36 and 37, to insert the following:

13.—(1) In relation to any person remanded into custody or sentenced to imprisonment, the Minister shall—

(a) have the power to give a transfer direction if he or she is satisfied by reports from two registered medical practitioners, one of whom is a consultant psychiatrist on the staff of the Central Mental Hospital, that the person is suffering from a mental disorder (within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 2001) and is in need of in-patient care and treatment in the Central Mental Hospital,

(b) in the case of all remanded prisoners, the court shall be informed of the making of this order and that the person has been transferred to the Central Mental Hospital,

(c) at the request of the clinical director of the Central Mental Hospital, the Governor of the prison from which the prisoner was transferred shall provide for transport and security for court appearances or other purposes,

(d) the person shall be detained in the Central Mental Hospital for treatment and shall have the same protections and rights as are contained in the Mental Health Act 2001,

(e) if the person is a prisoner who is on remand he or she shall be detained in the Central Mental Hospital until sentenced by the court, and

(f) if the person has been sentenced by the courts he or she shall be detained until the expiry of the sentence.

(2) In both cases the person shall be detained until the relevant consultant psychiatrist forms the opinion that the person is no longer in need of in-patient treatment or care at the designated centre and the consultant psychiatrist shall forthwith notify the Minister of this opinion; and

(3) Where the remanded or sentenced prisoner appeals successfully against his or her continued detention in the Central Mental Hospital to a Mental Health Tribunal, the Mental Health Tribunal shall forthwith notify the Minister of this decision and the Minister shall then order the return of the person to the prison from which that person was transferred."

This amendment represents an improvement on the present situation, which is quite unsatisfactory. There are some parts of the Bill that I do not like, because prisoners would not get treated sufficiently as patients, although there has is a big improvement in the provisions. Part 4 of the Mental Health Act 2001 will apply, which is important as it allows for consent to treatment. If a person goes voluntarily from a prison to the Central Mental Hospital but then does not agree to treatment, he or she can be sent back to prison. I do not know who decides whether the person is being unreasonable about their treatment. I have only seen the amendments recently.

Section 4 of the Mental Health Act allows people to refuse certain kinds of treatment, and I presume that would also apply under the Bill. I refer to electro-convulsive treatment, for example. It must not simply be a matter of a refusal of treatment. The prisoner — who becomes a patient, as I keep mentioning — must have preserved for him or her the rights that patients have under the Mental Health Act regarding treatment. That is probably the most important issue.

The Central Mental Hospital functions under the Department of Health and Children rather than the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I am sorry that more of the Mental Health Act 2001 does not apply to people when they are in different institutions. That has been a serious problem for a long time regarding the transfer of prisoners. The situation has been ridiculous, with people described as relevant officers — not medical officers — declaring that someone can go to court, where they are declared insane so that they can go on to some other institution. I am pleased about the provisions of the Mental Health Act that are being applied, but I would like the whole of the Act to be applied to people once they have become patients.