Mentally challenged people are being allowed to stay in the prisons because they are being refused by the mental institution.
This was disclosed by Commissioner of Prisons Gerard Wilson, who welcomed the initiative—“Mental Health First Response Leadership and Coaching" sponsored by the British High Commission (BHC) in T&T.
According to Wilson, it allowed 16 prison officers assigned to the Prisons’ Infirmary to undergo the special training, which was geared towards providing training in an effort to expand and improve support for both prisoners and staff.
In an interview, Wilson said the training session was well attended by officers from the rank of PO1 to supervisor.
“It would give the officers the competency to deal with mental health issues amongst inmates,” Wilson said.
“Mentally challenged people are allowed to remain in the prisons as the mental institutions do not like to keep them, so training is needed otherwise it would have confrontation.”
The commissioner recalled an incident where an officer had a confrontation with a mentally ill prisoner, who collapsed and died. He said that the officer was subsequently charged for murder. “Mental health is not just about sanity but also wellness. Mental health is important and this training could not have come in a better time.”
The training of trainers (ToT) programme was facilitated through the non-profit organisation CreateBetterMinds, established under the guidance of The UWI Professor of Psychiatry, Prof Gerard Hutchinson, as a mental health and disability organisation, functioning at many levels.
The five-day programme, which took place from January 29 to February 2, is internationally accredited by the ILM (City and Guilds Group business) in the UK.