Unfitness to Plead Consultation Responses - Law Commission ...

APPENDIX V
MIND: STATICTICS: FACTSHEET 8
The Criminal Justice System
Copyright note: Both individuals and organisations are welcome to print and photocopy
this fact sheet. Organisations are free to distribute complete fact sheets to service users
and colleagues, but must ensure they always use the latest version as available on the
website at the time of distribution.
Introduction
This factsheet is targeted at mental health professionals, journalists and students.
However, it is also our aim to present statistics in a way that makes this factsheet
accessible to all those who are interested in mental health.
Note: The language used in this factsheet reflects the sources referred to. The use of
such language does not imply Mind's automatic acceptance of it.
Prisoners and mental health
Number of prisoners with mental health problems
According to the ONS (the Office of National Statistics), a large proportion of prisoners in
England and Wales have a mental health problem.
In one survey they found that in the week before the interview, 39 per cent of sentenced
males and 75 per cent of female remand prisoners had significant neurotic problems,
such as anxiety, depression and phobias. Rates for all groups were much higher than
the 12 per cent of men and 18 per cent of women found to have significant levels of
neurotic symptoms in a similar household survey carried out by the ONS.
Differences between remand prisoners and sentenced prisoners
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