ABSTRACT
Mental health issues have been at the forefront of political, practice and media debates around imprisonment since reformer John Howard’s eighteenth-century examination of the state of prisons in the UK and Europe. First, this chapter will provide a brief historical review of the prison-based treatment of mental health issues centred around England and Wales, the expansion and increased plurality of service provision achieved over the last two decades through partnership with the National Health Service (NHS), including prevalence of disorder, ways to meet the needs of discrete populations, for example, older prisoners and former military personnel, and the challenges of ensuring a continuum of care between prison and the community. Second, the chapter will critically consider the current state of mental healthcare in prisons in the context of the sustained public sector austerity agenda and other similar policy and societal influences, and the challenges faced by practitioners and managers to improve individual and public health outcomes for this disadvantaged and marginalised community.
