3 April 2008 

On 7 April - World Health Day - PRI is hosting a roundtable meeting on Mental health and prisoners.  The meeting, due to be held in London, will bring together a group of leading international experts on mental health and penal reform.

The aim of the roundtable is to inform and raise discussion amongst government development agencies, ministries of foreign affairs and other opinion makers. The roundtable will look, from a global perspective, at shortfalls in the way that governmental and prison authorities currently deal with prisoners’ mental health problems, identify good practice and discuss how implementation of the latter can be advanced. 

The programme will cover:
- Relevant international human rights law;
- National perspectives from India, Georgia and Nigeria on the identification of mental health problems – are these regarded as criminal justice or health questions?
- Diversion of those with mental health problems from the criminal justice system;
- The impact of incarceration on prisoners’ mental health;
- Needs of some specific groups of prisoners;
- Oversight of prisons and the need to maintain standards.

Speakers and facilitators will include Dr Rani Shankardass, Secretary General, PRAJA India; Juliet Lyon, Executive Director, Prison Reform Trust, UK; Dr Nino Makhashvili, Director, Global Initiative on Psychiatry, Georgia; and Rick Lines, Senior Policy Advisor, International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA).

The roundtable has been funded by a Sigrid Rausing Trust grant.

For further information please write to info@penalreform.org