Horrific mental health issues in prisons

There was a right old furore about foreign national prisoners yesterday. I spent much of the day doing media interviews. We said that specialist prisons for foreign nationals was not a problem (and was not new) if it helped to deliver a better service to them. There are around 11,000 foreign nationals in jail and Canterbury and Bullwood Hall are small prisons that hold about 500 people. Both Wormwood Scrubs and Wandsworth hold more foreign nationals.

What was disappointing was that the issue arose from briefing by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, but she was concentrating on the horrific mental health issues rife in prisons. Yet the story was hijacked and it was foreign nationals that hit the headlines. The real problems are just too difficult to deal with.