PRISON PSYCHIATRY

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PRISON PSYCHIATRY

• Dr Melanie Baker
• Consultant in Forensic Psychiatry
• Visiting Psychiatrist to HMP Barlinnie

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Syllabus for MRCPsych IIPsychiatry in Prisons

• Knowledge of the presence of psychiatric disorder
  in prison populations
• Suicide in prisons
• Psychiatric treatment in prison settings

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PRISONS

• There are 15 prisons in Scotland. These operate
  at different levels of security and cater for
  individuals on remand and serving sentences

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Photo-shoot
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Photo-shoot
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HMP Barlinnie
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STATISTICS According to Literature

• REMAND PRISONERS
• - 70 psychiatric morbidity
• amongst remands
• 5 psychotic or
• affective disorder
• - Three times more
• likely to have psychosis
• or major depression than
• the general population
• - Co-morbidity with mental
• illness, substance misuse
• and personality disorder
• is the norm
• - Officers national,
• statistics 10 of male
• remands suffer a functional
• psychosis
• - Substance misuse rate 38, higher
• amongst remand than serving

• SENTENCED PRISONERS
• - 7 of male sentenced
• prisoners have a psychotic
• illness

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REASONS FOR ELEVATED PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITY

• Remand
• Acute withdrawal
• Addiction in custody
• New asylum population
• Demographics

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CASE e.g.

• Anonymised
• 36y male
• Serious offender
• Assault to severe injury
• Attempted murder

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WHAT DOES THE VISITING PSYCHIATRIST DO?

• Triage
• Case management
• Transfer to local hospitals
• Management of difficult prisoners
• Consultation

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TAKE HOME MESSAGES

• Syllabus
• The SPS is not the NHS
• Itinerant population
• Forensic experience