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Post by Big Lin on Jul 8, 2009 23:32:49 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7346148.stm10:43 GMT, Monday, 14 April 2008 11:43 UK Self harm high at women's prison There has been a 37% rise in self harm cases in prison nationally A women's prison in West Yorkshire has one of the highest rates of inmates self harming, figures show. The Howard League for Penal Reform found there were 1,193 incidents of prisoners at New Hall in Wakefield hurting themselves in 2007. The charity said although the number had dropped from 1,266 in 2006, it was still among the top 10 highest in the country. Self injury cases in prisons nationally have risen by 37% over five years. The charity said rates in women's prisons had increased even further, with a 48% rise in recorded incidents between 2003 and 2007. Other prisons with high self injury rates included Holloway and Styal, both women's prisons. The figures show Leeds Prison had 146 cases of self harm for the same five-year period and Wakefield Prison had 120 incidents. Director of the Howard League charity Frances Crook said: "When men, women and children in jail cut themselves and otherwise assault their own bodies, it is not a cry for help, it is a scream."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2009 7:32:27 GMT
I'm not sure that self harm is a cry for help, is it? Some say the pain realeases soothing endorphines, or at the very least distract from mental torment.
The prison service has been cutting down on staff, so could increased opportunities be a factor? Or more overcrowded jails? Or courts sending a higher proportion of mentally ill people to prison.... or what, I wonder?
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 9, 2009 7:53:09 GMT
In Scotland' only female prison (Cornton Vale) something like 80% of prisoners have diagnosed mental health conditions. Male prisoners also have high diagnosed mental health problems, but not quite as high.
Additionally, most - 75% - of prisoners in Cornton Vale had been abused sexually when younger.
(However, the majority are also heroin addicts. Lest we all feel too much sympathy for these poor ill, abused women . . and they're not in prison for jumping a red traffic light.)
Self-harm and childhood abuse seem to be very closely linked.
Basically what I'm saying is that prisons are full of very damaged people, so the extent of self-harm does not surprise me.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2009 7:56:51 GMT
I also imagine that as community punisment ordeers become more popular, the proportion of mentally ill people sent to prison will rise. Unfortunately some people (and substance abusers are probably the classic example) find it impossible to turn up where they should be at the right time, let alone complete what they should be doing.
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Post by randomvioce on Jul 9, 2009 11:37:28 GMT
Self-harm and childhood abuse seem to be very closely linked. No doubt drug addiction too.
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Post by Big Lin on Jul 9, 2009 15:38:45 GMT
The figures are pretty much the same in England as well.
The sad reality is that MOST of the women currently in prison have such serious mental health issues that they OUGHT to be receiving psychiatric help rather than facing incarceration.
You also have to take into account the fact that prisons - contrary to the myths put about by some people - are NOT holiday camps but pretty much hellholes.
The staff on the whole do their best but too many of them are harassed, unsympathetic or even downright psychopaths themselves.
Too little attention is paid to prisoner care and it's a real shame.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2009 15:51:47 GMT
The figures are pretty much the same in England as well. The sad reality is that MOST of the women currently in prison have such serious mental health issues that they OUGHT to be receiving psychiatric help rather than facing incarceration. quote] Men too, Lin, from what the statistics say. Just because someone has mental health issues does not mean they should not be punished in the same way as other offenders. Their mental condition should seldom be a legitimate excuse. Treatment probably doesn't work well either in prison or in the community. I'm a great believer in therapeutic communities - but I'm also uneasy about these being part of the criminal justice system, not least because it is hardly fair to offer them to offenders when there are plenty of law-abiding citizens desperately in need of such help.
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Post by Liberator on Jul 9, 2009 21:16:36 GMT
It depends what the mental health problems are. Too often, they are not treated in prison or not considered in court so that sentencing could be to a secure ward. But few mental health problems mean people are actually 'mad' or unaware. Some of them can be all too cute and ready to play on their condition.
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Post by mikemarshall on Jul 9, 2009 21:55:51 GMT
'To define true madness, what is it but to be mad oneself?'
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2009 8:45:45 GMT
Just caught a "listener's comment " on self harm on Radio 4. He was saying that self harm has little to do with mental illness, and believes the increase (apparently it is on the up generally) is due to the current media publicity surrounding it, especially the fashionable idea that self harming can relieve stress. His thoughts, not mine!
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Jul 18, 2009 18:28:49 GMT
If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
AH
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2009 10:59:01 GMT
I should add that the speaker referred to in my previous post wasn't talking about prison; self harm is apparently on the rise generally.
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