Mental health problems lead to a sick man killing himself while in jail.

Did my sick husband have to die in jail? - Guardian

Extract:

"To Alan Mullin's family, the irony was cruel. Famous as one of Scotland's leading mountaineers, Mullin was now spending days and nights on end in front of a computer screen, his mind spinning out of control. Having taken on some of the toughest winter climbs in the world, he found himself exploring the peaks and depths of his own mind, looking for answers in cyberspace.

In the two-and-a-half years since Alan was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, his wife, Marion, felt they had managed to cope. But last January his condition worsened. Increasingly desperate, Marion Mullin reached out for help. The consequences of that decision will, she says, haunt her for the rest of her life.

Within days, Alan Mullin had hanged himself in his cell while on remand in Porterfield Prison in Inverness for a breach of the peace.

Marion Mullin is angry and bitter about the way her husband was treated. He was, she says, a danger only to himself. She wants an explanation for why a man who was delusional and had attempted suicide several times was in prison rather than in hospital.

She also fears that the new Mental Health Bill will make the situation of patients such as her husband worse, not better. The bill, which is being debated in parliament, is criticised by doctors and mental health charities for failing to meet the real needs of the mentally ill."

Children suffering from mental health problems will no longer be placed on adult wards, ministers have promised.

Victory for IoS on mental health care for children - Independent on Sunday

Extract:

"Ministers have pledged to ensure that children suffering from mental health problems are not placed on adult wards after a long campaign waged by The Independent on Sunday.

Following an outcry over the fact that children as young as 12 are being incarcerated with adults in psychiatric institutions, the Government is preparing to ensure that children are not made to share wards with mentally ill adults.

In a surprise U-turn, ministers have privately indicated that they will amend the Mental Health Bill so that by law children under 16 must be treated in an "age-appropriate" environment.

The climb-down is a victory for The Independent on Sunday which last month revealed how children and teenagers are physically and verbally abused, left without proper therapy and housed with seriously disturbed adults.

It follows a campaign by a coalition of MPs, mental health pressure groups and peers, who argue that sending children with psychiatric problems to adult facilities is traumatic and cuts their chances of recovery.

Rosie Winterton, the minister for mental health, is to write immediately to health authorities telling them that putting a child under 16 on an adult ward would be seen as "a serious untoward incident"."