Training session held to address mentally ill inmates

The Ministry of National Security, held a workshop on Friday, August 24 with a team of lawyers assigned to work with inmates who are unfit to plead.

The workshop sensitised and updated the lawyers on the cases of mentally ill inmates who were found unfit to plead as well as those who became mentally ill subsequent to their conviction.

The chief technical director at the ministry, Laura Plunkett, who spearheaded the workshop, noted that the initiative was in partnership with the Ministry of Health, the Legal Aid Council, the Department of Correctional Services, among other entities.

"We are all on board to chart a path to assist those who have been committed to the care of the Department of Correctional Services, who have either become mentally ill by way of incarceration or those who have been detained with mental illness before standing trial," she said.

She said the workshop reviewed, among other things, the psychiatric approach to the treatment of the mentally ill in correctional centres.

Plunkett further indicated that lawyers also did a session to guide them on the process of petitioning to the governor general for pardon on behalf of the mentally ill inmates, where necessary.

"Each lawyer has been assigned a case file to ensure that all inmates have proper representation. The lawyer's responsibility is to meet with the inmate or the correctional officer to get the details of the case to present to the court based on the Mental Health Act," she said.