Her majesty's government's pleasure: Providing appropriate community intervention can improve care and save money: Commentary on... Offender health

Abstract

In answer to Louis Appleby's editorial, I am proposing that the role of mental health services in offender healthcare is to improve people's mental health and it is the role of the courts and the government to reduce the prison population. I also argue that with a reinvestment of existing resources into prison mental health we can reduce admission to expensive medium secure and low secure placements, save money and further reinvest in better care. Declaration of interest: M.H. manages the largest forensic service in the country covering high, medium and low secure services, and also provides prison healthcare services to 13 prisons.