Abstract
The presence of the Official Secrets Acts of 1911 and 1920 precludes comment from doctors working within Her Majesty's prisons on the state of remand prisons in Britain. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, Judge Tumin, has described them as “intolerable, and representing much human misery”. In an article entitled ‘Under the prison outrage: a quieter scandal’, Kilroy-Silk (1989) refers to a report implying that, at any one time, one third of remand prisoners suffer from mental illness.
Highlights
Britain is top of the 'European league for jailings' (Hodges, 1989) at 97.4 people per 100,000 of the population
The Probation Service is the body most frequently involved in providing court reports, and is currently conducting its own research projects into possible ways of decreasing the prison remand population (Morgan, 1989)
Psychiatrists are among the experts most commonly approached for a court report
Summary
The presence of the Official Secrets Acts of 1911 and 1920 precludes comment from doctors working within Her Majesty's prisons on the state of remand prisons in .Britain. With the issue offalse and retracted confessions very much in the air (Gudjonsson & MacKeith, 1988), note should be made in particular of whether the defendant was in any way vulnerable through mental illness, handicap, or physical illness at the time ofpolice interview, and whether he was interviewed by the police in the presence of his solicitor, or another 'reliable adult' For those who are 'vulnerable', there should be some external corroborating evidence. Psychiatrists should be aware that they can provide valuable information contributing to a bail decision, and if requested to give an opinion on 'fitness to plead', should in my opinion, consider the question of bail They should, be aware that a psychiatric report for this purpose addresses different issues, and that the court has in mind specific questions, which have been outlined above. McCreadie, Secretary, Scottish Division, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Crichton Royal Hospital, Dumfries DGI4TG
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