Man kept in jail illegally amid psychiatric facility bed shortage

A mentally impaired man, identified only as SJQ, was held in jail illegally due to a severe shortage of beds at WA’s only psychiatric facility for prisoners, the Frankland Centre at Graylands Hospital. A Supreme Court judge ruled that officials were forced to break the state’s own rules because of the lack of beds. SJQ, who suffers from treatment-resistant paranoid schizophrenia, was kept in prison for around two months while denied appropriate psychiatric care.

A magistrate had previously found him unfit to stand trial due to his mental health condition. The 30-bed Frankland Centre, opened in 1993, has not expanded its capacity despite WA’s prisoner population quadrupling over that period. Justice Terence Palmer criticized the government for placing mentally impaired people involved in the criminal justice system in unlawful situations when resources are limited.

The judge emphasized that those responsible for the care of such individuals should not be placed in a position that forces them to break the law. The Frankland Centre operated at 99% occupancy in the previous financial year and had an 18-person waitlist before SJQ’s case. State governments have been warned about the bed shortage for years, with previous reports highlighting inhumane conditions as human rights breaches.

Proponents argue that in any other part of the health system, mentally impaired prisoners would not be denied care. The government is working on expanding the Frankland Centre’s capacity, with a nearly $200 million project including plans for 32 additional sub-acute male forensic mental health beds.