Question: Do you believe that the offenders you treat are any different to ordinary offenders, furthermore do you think they are convicted fairly because of their difference? i.e. mental differences.

John Atkinson answered on 18 Jun 2018:

Hi Matty,
On average the offenders I work with in hospital are more likely to have a mental disorder than those in prison which is why they come to hospital. However there are a lot of prisoners who also have mental health problems and around a quarter of those in our hospital were transferred from prison due to being too ill to stay there.
In terms of the second part of your question, this is quite tricky to answer. We use the broad term ‘mental disorder’ to describe a range of disorders which might mean someone is detained for their own or others’ safety. This term covers personality disorder, learning disability, autism, schizophrenia etc. All of these disorders increase the chances (on average) of someone offending due to the problems they might experience because of the disorder. Whether it is fair or not that they are convicted is up to the court to decide. What is probably better is if they have a mental disorder they should come to hospital instead of going to prison. The important thing is if they are at risk of further offending or of hurting themselves because of their disorder then, yes they should be detained in hospital to get treatment. Hope this helps!