National Preventive Mechanism Eighth Annual Report 2016–17 Table 1: Legislative instruments Transfer from prison of a person who is suffering from a mental disorder for which medical treatment is available in the hospital Transfer from hospital to prison following completion of hospital medical treatment England and Wales Mental Health Act 1983 Section 47, Section 48 and Section 49 (restrictions) Northern Ireland Mental Health (NI) Order 1986 Article 53 and Mental Health (NI) Order 1986 Articles 56 54 (removal to hospital) and 57 Scotland Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 Section 136 Legal and policy framework Involuntary psychiatric treatment of people detained in prisons is not permitted in the UK, to safeguard detainees from potential abuse. Instead, legislative frameworks across the UK provide for the transfer of detainees who require assessment and treatment for mental disorder to hospital, and their subsequent return to prison when the health episode is completed (see Table 1). Codes of practice guide appropriate care and treatment under relevant legislation in England, Wales and Scotland and one is being drafted in Northern Ireland.104 To effect the transfer of a person from a prison to a hospital and vice versa, a transfer direction is required to provide legal authority. In England and Wales the transfer direction is provided by the Secretary of State for Justice, in Northern Ireland the Minister of Justice and in Scotland by the Scottish Ministers. There is no right to appeal for prisoners who do not want to Mental Health Act 1983 Section 50 Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 Section 216(2) [Revocation by Scottish Ministers] be transferred from prison to hospital, although some patients (including all patients transferred from prison in Scotland) can apply to a tribunal to revoke the transfer once it has taken effect. After the recommendation in the Bradley report that prisoners requiring hospital assessment and treatment should be transferred from prison to hospital within 14 days, guidelines were introduced in England and Wales with the intention that a prisoner should be transferred to a mental health unit within 14 days of the first medical recommendation for transfer.105 During this 14 days, a second medical opinion was to be sought and all administrative tasks, including finding a bed, should also be completed. In Scotland, once the Direction has been signed by Scottish Ministers, the transfer must take place within seven days, although the Act does not specify a time period before the application for a Direction must be determined. 104. England and Wales: Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice (2015) chapter 22. Scotland: Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act Code of Practice, Volume 3: Compulsory Powers in Relation to Mentally Disordered Offenders. 105. Department of Health, 2011, The transfer and remission of adult prisoners under s47 and s48 of the Mental Health Act. 40