Graham Robertson

Some cognitive correlates of affective disorders

Seventy-one men completed a battery of cognitive tests which were designed to reflect verbal analytic and non-verbal holistic functioning. Interest centred around pattern of response. Thirty men were suffering from an affective disorder and forty-one were well. All the men were in prison, the majority awaiting trial. The affective disorder group was subdivided into three categories: men who had a history of manic-depressive illness; a group of unipolar, psychotically depressed men; and men who were regarded as being depressed in reaction to circumstances. All three groups showed specific difficulty in dealing with spatial/holistic tasks, other factors being held constant. They were also found to differ in a number of other respects. The possible significance of these differences is discussed.

Remands and psychiatric assessments in Holloway. Prison II: The non-psychotic population.

Non-psychotic remand prisoners who were referred by Holloways doctors to outside psychiatrists, or who were the subject of court reports, or who were diagnosed as mentally handicapped, were followed up to the time of sentence. Most of the referred women were minor offenders with diagnoses of mental handicap or personality disorder. They were usually refused beds on treatability criteria and then released with non-custodial sentences. Some were highly disturbed, and it seemed that the police who charged them, the courts who remanded them and the prison psychiatrists who referred them, all found it hard to accept that psychiatry had so little to offer these people. Local health and social services need to address the problems raised by this small group of women. Arsonists more often obtained beds than minor offenders, and were likely to be imprisoned when hospital places were not forthcoming.

The identification and treatment of opiate users in police custody.

All detainees admitted to seven London police stations were observed over a six-month period (n=2,947). Four per cent were identified as opiate users, although the actual percentage is likely to be much higher. Compared to the general population of detainees there were significantly more women among known opiate users and this group also contained a higher percentage of white detainees and people born in the British Isles. People born in continental European countries were also over-represented. A little more than half of known users did not reveal their use on arrival at the police station. At least 60% of known opiate users remained well throughout their detention, 30% were intoxicated through drugs at the time of their arrest, but only 13% displayed signs or symptoms of withdrawal during their detention. Overall, 65% of the known opiate users were seen by a police surgeon and of these 52% were given medication. All of those withdrawing were given drug treatment, but most of those who were intoxicated by opiates, or who remained well throughout their detention, received no medication. Of those given medication 86% received an opiate, dihydrocodeine being the commonest preparation, usually in association with a benzodiazepine. Despite the adoption of differing management paradigms among police surgeons, the actual medical treatment of opiate-using detainees was pragmatic and determined by individual need.

A Follow-up of Remanded Mentally III Offenders Given Court Hospital Orders

A follow up study of 101 men who were remanded to Brixton prison and who were given hospital orders by courts is reported. In 93% of cases the hospitals who responded to our enquiries reported that the admission had been appropriate. Only 5 (11%) of the 46 men who had been discharged from hospital had absconded or discharged themselves without medical approval. The process of referral and admission to hospital resulted in these men having to spend, on average, between two and three times longer in custody when compared to men charged with similar offences. It is generally recognized that the acutely ill should not be imprisoned, and encouragement has been given to the diversion of such people from the Criminal Justice System. However, London presents particular problems in this respect and it is argued that, since such problems will always be present, there is a need for special psychiatric facilities to be opened in order to serve the needs of the Capital.

Police Disposal of Female Detainees: An Examination of Police Practice in Seven London Stations

A study of mentally disordered people in London police stations allowed the authors to obtain information on everyone arrested and brought to those stations. This paper presents the data in respect of female detainees who comprised 16 per cent of the population. When arrests for loitering are excluded, and matched for type of offence, the pattern of disposal was for women to be cautioned more often than men and for the latter group to be charged more frequently than women. Some such differences are likely to be due to differences in the respective criminal records of male and female detainees. There was no evidence that women were being treated more severely than men and the findings are in line with the results of enquiries into the sentencing practices of both magistrates and Crown Courts.

People Arrested in London: An Examination of Ethnic Origin

Most published statistics about crime concern only people who have been charged with, cautioned for or convicted of notifiable offences. As many people again are arrested and brought to police stations in connection with types of offence which are not notifiable. A recent study of mentally disordered people in London police stations afforded the opportunity to obtain information on everyone arrested and brought to those stations. The purpose of this paper is to describe this population in terms of the ethnic origin of detainees.