Prisoner access to secure mental health treatment

We started this review because we were concerned by the circumstances in which two women with acute mental health needs were moved from Bandyup Women’s Prison to the state’s only secure forensic mental health facility, the Frankland Centre. We aimed to examine the safety of transporting prisoners to the Frankland Centre. To get a full …

Prisoners needing clinical care are not able to access it The majority of referrals to the Frankland Centre for clinical mental health treatment do not result in a placement. Even after multiple referrals a third of people never access the centre. These people are reliant on clinical care being provided within the prison, but the …

The State is not meeting the mental health needs of prisoners. The number of beds at the Frankland Centre has been inadequate for over a decade. Access to clinical care in the custodial environment is minimal. Daily management of people with serious mental health needs is left to custodial staff who have limited training, few …

Recommendation 1 – Government to commit funding to increase the number of secure forensic mental health beds Recommendation 2 – Department of Justice to work with judicial officers and the Department of Health to make arrangements to allow non-serious offenders on hospital orders to be diverted to other authorised hospitals and not just the Frankland …