What impact have the policies surrounding deinstitutionalisation and mass incarceration had on the Criminal Justice System as a provider of mental health care in England and Wales?

As the optimistic vision of well-funded community based mental health services crumbled in the 1980s, the increased involvement of policing and prisons in the mental health field has led to a modern crisis. Former probation officer, mental health social worker, and author Ian Cummins examines the social policies of deinstitutionalisation and mass incarceration, and provides a critical analysis of how the failures of community care have led to the Criminal Justice System becoming a default provider of mental health care. Mental Health and the Penal State argues that the expansion of the use of imprisonment, combined with the failure to develop community mental health services, has led to people being drawn into the Criminal Justice System. The result: the criminalisation of the mentally ill.

Drawing from case studies, official inspections, and reports to highlight the risks that vulnerable people in the Criminal Justice System face, this book is ideal reading for students of Carceral Studies, Criminology, Policing, Sociology, Psychology, Disability Studies, and Social Work.

Ian Cummins PhD is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Society at the University of Salford.