offers is to take it away from them and stick them in a prison. Removal
of freedom in a democratic society is a serious punishment. It's also
associated with poor mental health.
Most people have never spent any time on a psychiatric ward so will
never know what it's like having their liberty taken away when they're
unwell. I remember the first time. I said to them I'd not committed a
crime. But I'm committed a social crime: the crime of mania.
Wards are disgusting places to be. 4 or more people might share a room.
An entire ward of 40-50 people might share a single shower. People have
access to little of what they'd have at home, be it a computer or a TV
or access to a phone to contact their social network. Until recently
many patients had no access to fresh air or direct sunlight and many
still don't but the smoking ban forced some wards to ensure this basic
right was available.
There's no freedom to shop for a sectioned patient, no freedom of
movement except in the confines of the ward. Prisons usually have open
spaces where prisoners can exercise but this is not ensured on wards.
So many rights can be taken away and few are guaranteed. Those few that
are guaranteed still aren't given. Many wards break human rights law but
there are few human rights inspections of wards. There are for prisons.
As someone who's had their human rights violated I can tell you for
certain that this happens in NHS facilities and it happens knowingly.
The NHS have budgets set aside for good lawyers and payouts so they can
continue to break the law. The police don't give a shit. Human Rights
Watch didn't give a shit. Brent Mind didn't give a shit. Thankfully my
MP did. That's why I'm glad politicians stay in the mix when it comes to
NHS mental healthcare.
I always wondered if wards were designed to make people more unwell.
That could be the only logic I could see for the way the crisis and
extended incarceration of the mentally ill system was designed. I
thought it was a bit like a stress test used to find out if a person has
a heart problem by pushing the heart to an extreme. Wards are an
environment that would make anyone ill. They're not the same as physical
health hospitals because they offer the body rest which is a powerful
healer. There is no rest of the mind in a psychiatric ward. Quite the
opposite.
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