NEARLY one-third of inmates at La Moye Prison are on medication for mental-health conditions, the JEP can reveal.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that 38 of the prison’s 138, or 27.5% of inmates, as of July 2024 are on medication associated with managing a diagnosed mental-health condition or addressing symptoms. Conditions include schizophrenia, personality disorder, underlying physical condition impacting mental health, generalised anxiety disorder and clinical depression, it revealed.
Jersey’s Health and Social Care Department’s 2023 report showed that 13% of the Island’s population was on medication for mental-health conditions compared to 14% in the UK.
Meanwhile, data also shows that 63 incidents of self-harm were reported to the prison authorities in 2023, compared to 45 in 2022, 34 in 2021 and 28 in 2020. So far in 2024 there have been 43 incidents of self-harm.
Commenting on the numbers, Home Affairs Minister Deputy Mary Le Hegarat said: “The increase in self-harm between 2020 to 2024 can be attributed mainly to fewer than five individuals and does not reflect on underlying issues of safety in the prison.
“These individuals are supported by a case manager who oversees a multidisciplinary approach to prisoner care, which includes professionals such as Health, Psychology and Chaplaincy.
“The States of Jersey Prison Service will always do everything in its powers to support people in our custody.”
The numbers will only serve to increase concerns about the treatment of prisoners at La Moye, which have been heightened since the departure of prison governor Susie Richardson earlier this year. Ms Richardson, who was popular with prisoners and staff, is understood to have left the prison because she did not receive sufficient support from the Home Affairs Department.
The Justice and Home Affairs Department told this newspaper that only one of the nurses working at the prison has mental-health training, and that La Moye does not currently have a psychologist on staff. Alongside a senior psychiatric nurse, the prison has a consultant forensic psychiatrist who works part-time as part of the Mental Health in Reach Team.
The department also said that a total of 19 prisoners were currently under the care of the team.
Inmates at the prison have written to the JEP in recent weeks to highlight concerns about mental-health provision there, in particularly among elderly prisoners.
“The prison staff do an excellent job of accommodating those with mental-health conditions, some of whom are very complex individuals who are hugely difficult to manage. But prison officers are not healthcare professionals – let alone mental-health practitioners. Sadly, prison has become a depository for so many who should be in a secure mental-health unit receiving treatment. No such unit exists in Jersey,” one inmate wrote in a letter.
“Likewise, providing for the healthcare needs of more senior prisoners, some of whom are facing lengthy sentences, is increasingly complex. Many of the pathologies of old age are exacerbated by prison life and are difficult to manage. Mental-health challenges, including depression, will often lead to non-compliance with treatment and medication regimes.”
A 2023 report from the Jersey Independent Prison Monitoring Board found that at least half of all prisoners at La Moye suffered from mental-health issues, and revealed that prisoners at La Moye spent nearly 19 hours inside their cells per day.
The UK government’s standard is that prisoners spend at least ten hours outside of their cells in order to ensure mental wellbeing.
Part of the problem in Jersey is the lack of a secure psychiatric unit for prisoners, meaning that inmates who require inpatient mental-health care have to be transferred to a secure mental-health unit in the UK.
