Date:30/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/30/stories/2008063061020200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Caring for mentally ill prisoners

Raghava M.

Rehabilitation centre takes care of 67 inmates

BANGALORE: In June last, 22-year-old Gopal, a convict at the Bangalore Central Prison, allegedly bludgeoned his fellow inmate Sadiq to death in a barrack. Gopal picked up a stone from a place of construction and hit Sadiq when the latter was asleep.

There was no prior instance of clashes between the two. The incident occurred three months after he was discharged from the psychiatric ward of the Prison Hospital where he was being treated for mental illness since being jailed in 2005. Gopal was said to have gone out of control as he did not take the prescribed medicines regularly.

Gopal is not the only mentally ill prisoner in need of special care. There are many more like him. The prison authorities are now keeping 67 such inmates at a barrack-turned-rehabilitation centre. This new facility was opened following the recommendations of psychiatrist P. Rajini who has been working in the Prison Hospital for the past four years. “The prison hospital is too small to accommodate inmates who need continuous medication. Those who are suffering from schizophrenia need to take medicines all their life,” Dr. Rajini said.

The mentally ill inmates are not able to take care of themselves when they are sent back to the barracks. “Some feel dejected because of problems in their family and long periods of trial, and ignore taking medicines and follow-up treatment. Some have been seen misusing the medicines to commit suicide,” she said. At the rehabilitation centre, six prison personnel have been trained to take care of convicts as well as undertrials. The Prison Department has taken the help of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences to study the mental health of the inmates, the first study of its kind in the country.

Launched in March, the project “Mental Health Care in Prisons”, which is being undertaken in association with the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, is meant to understand the mental health status of the prison inmates.