Ireland can do “much more” to address the problem of severely mentally ill people being kept in prison, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has said. The Minister said he is “very concerned at mental health issues” within the country’s 12 prisons and that the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Health Service Executive need to do more to help inmates with serious mental illness. The Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, the country’s only forensic mental health facility, is constantly at full capacity and there is usually a lengthy list of severely mentally ill prisoners waiting on admission from Dublin’s Cloverhill Prison. He also said judges need more options when it comes to sentencing those with mental health issues, including the option to send them for a “mental health referral” as an alternative to prison. On the subject of drug law, Mr Flanagan said he was not in favour of decriminalising possession of drugs for personal use.

Source: The Irish Times July 20, 2019 00:11 UTC