ABSTRACT
The problem of people with mental illnesses and learning disabilities in prison is not new. As early as 1835, a surgeon at Newgate Gaol was writing about it in terms so despairing as to indicate that it was not a new problem then (Grounds, 1990). Men and women who have mental health problems, and/or learning disabilities and who commit offences of varying seriousness cannot be described or dealt with as if they were part of an easily recognised homogenous group. The link between mental disorder and offending is not always clear. The question may be asked: 'does this person offend because he or she is mentally ill, or because he or she is a bad person who happens to have a mental illness? It should also be borne in mind that a diagnosis of treatable mental disorder which must be made in order to obtain the appropriate treatment, may have far-reaching detrimental consequences for the offender.
