Section two Focus on detention issues In practice The NPM requested data on the number of transfers from prisons to hospitals and was informed that in 2016–17 there were 1,083 transfers in England (983 men and 100 women), 15 in Northern Ireland (12 adult men, one young male and two women) and 57 in Scotland (50 men and seven women).106 Information obtained by a freedom of information request cited in a newspaper article suggests that the number of male prisoners being transferred to hospital grew by more than 20% between 2011 and 2014 in England and Wales.107 The most recent data we accessed showing the number of patients returned from hospital to prison was 305 during 2015.108 In 2016, 1,175 prisoners were transferred to a secure hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983, of whom 104 were women and 1,071 were men.109 Not all prisons are involved in transferring detainees to secure hospitals for treatment, and in England in 2016–17, 31 out of 112 did not initiate any transfers and 80 prisons had 12 or fewer transfers. Most transfers were from category A and B prisons that had ‘inpatient’ units and where the most seriously mentally disordered prisoners were usually detained.110 It appears that there is no central record of how many prisoners are currently awaiting a transfer to a secure hospital.111 Table 2: The 10 prisons in England from which most prison to hospital transfers are made Prison Detainee gender Security category Number of Mental Health Act transfers from prison to hospital initiated and/or completed in 2016–17 Pentonville Male B 106 Wandsworth Male B 66 Leicester Male B 50 Woodhill Male B 37 Belmarsh Male A 33 Long Lartin Male A 33 Thameside Male B 33 Wormwood Scrubs Male B 31 Bronzefield Female B 30 Preston Male B 27 106. Data from different jurisdictions may not be collected in standardised ways and definitions may vary, so this data is not comparable and may not be entirely accurate. 107. Yeung, P, 2016, ‘Rise in prisoners moved to mental health hospitals’ in The Guardian, 14 September 2016. 108. NHS England, 2017, Written evidence to the Justice Committee inquiry on governor empowerment, http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/justice-committee/prison-reform/ written/46720.html [accessed 13/11/17]. 109. Hansard, 2017, Prisoners: Mental Illness, Written Answer to David Hanson MP, 12 September 2017. 110. NHS England Central Database Working Document 090617 PT MH Assessments and Secure Transfers (email correspondence between HM Inspectorate of Prisons and NHS England). 111. National Audit Office, 2017, Mental Health in Prisons, paragraph 3.37, https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2017/06/Mental-health-in-prisons.pdf [accessed 13/11/2017]. 41