... be in prison, through proper diagnosis and treatment which can be described through many of the perspectives in specialised care and rehabilitation. As mental institutions closed patients were left to fend for themselves and to choose what their needs and treatments were, and since many people could not, or did not want to, recognise their illness ('agnosia') many patients ceased medication which resulted in destitution and subsequently getting themselves involved in criminal activity. A mentally ill person who has committed a crime and a mentally ill person who has not, cannot receive the same comfort from their treatment. Treatment of course is needed but can occur within prison. A major problem is that prison staff are not educated on the facts of mental illness, therefore do not know how to treat these people. In some cases mentally ill prisoners have been locked in an isolated cell for up to twenty-three hours ...

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