Sainsbury Centre: More funding needed

Greater funding is needed to raise the level of care in-reach teams are able to provide prisoners with mental health needs, according to the Sainsbury Centre director of prisons and criminal justice.

Sean Duggan said funding is currently "inadequate" and claimed there are "worrying inequalities in prison mental health care spending across England".

His comments follow a report which said mental health services in England's prisons receive only one-third of the money they need.

"Many in-reach teams are struggling to offer a decent service in the face of inadequate funding and very high levels of need among prisoners," Mr Duggan added.

"As a result they can do little more than assess people and try to prepare them for life in the community."

He continued: "The NHS needs to end this postcode lottery in prison mental health spending.

"We need to see a major boost in spending on in-reach across the country, especially in those areas that are falling behind. National guidance on in-reach team staffing would help to reduce the gap and improve services."