Women being jailed in Surrey prison due to lack of mental health beds according to new report
An independent report into HMP Bronzefield found the prison has some inmates who should be in a mental health facility but are imprisoned due to a shortage of secure psychiatric hospital beds.
A new independent report into a Surrey prison found women in acute mental stress are being imprisoned rather than sent to psychiatric hospital.
The report says HMP Bronzefield found the prison has some inmates who should be in a mental health facility but are imprisoned due to a shortage of secure psychiatric hospital beds.
These concerns have been long-standing as in 2023 a separate report found similar issues
The Independent Monitoring Board found that, in 2024-25, 22 women were sent to HMP Bronzefield as a 'place of safety' under the Mental Health Act. This was up from 19 in 2023-24.
Ben Molesey is the Chair of the Independent Monitoring Board that looked at HMP Bronzefield.
He told us he doesn't think it is an improving situation
"We're not seeing an improving situation. In fact, in our latest annual report, we're seeing the number of women waiting for secure psychiatric hospitals increasing from 19 the previous year, up to 22 this year. So it's not a not an improving situation at the moment."
Patients can only be admitted to hospital if they meet the criteria for detention under the Mental Health Act, however another finding in the report was how long people were having to wait to receive a transfer should they need one
Only 45% of transfers to hospital met the statutory 28-day target, with some women waiting over 100 days. The longest wait recorded was 157 days.Â
Molesey emphasised that this issue does not only effect the prisoners who need the specialist care.
"We certainly see an effect in terms of people with mental health issues and specifically acutely mentally unwell women alongside general population we see issues in terms of other inmates feeling unsafe
We see also the knock on effects with with staff who we commend for doing an excellent job in terms of the compassion and care for the prisoners. But of course it's not their their specialist area.
They're not trained mental health professionals to deal with acutely mentally unwell prisoners"
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said the "sobering report is yet another example of how the prison system is not working for most women.
We have established a Women's Justice Board to advise on reducing the number of women in jail and are changing the law so that more women will serve their sentences in the community where they will be better supported to turn their lives around."