It is essential that the Federal Government’s roadmap for mental health reform provides a national focus for the issue of mental health in correctional facilities, writes PIAC’s Chris Hartley.
In January 2012, the Australian Government released the draft Ten Year Roadmap for National Mental Health Reform. While its stated aim is for Australia to be a country that maximises opportunities to prevent mental health problems and support people with mental illness to live full and rewarding lives, the roadmap provides scant recognition of the high rates of people with a mental illness within correctional facilities.
By failing to recognise and implement strategies to reduce these rates, the Roadmap neglects the mental health needs of the most vulnerable in the community.
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