HMP no place to be mentally ill: lawyer

Conditions at the largest jail in Newfoundland and Labrador are terrible for inmates who suffer from mental problems, advocates say.

Her Majesty's Penitentiary, a St. John's prison that dates back to Victorian times, has no proper mental health facilities, and solitary confinement is often the only way to deal with sick patients.

"[For] my clients with mental illnesses, my experience is that they come out much worse than when they went in," said Peter Ralph, a St. John's lawyer.

The issue of suicide at HMP was pushed to the fore this week, when Darren Fagan killed himself hours before his trial on kidnapping and sexual assault charges was to start in St. John's.

Cindy Murphy, who works with the John Howard Society, said inmates often talk about suicidal thoughts while they are doing time.

She said that inmates are three times more likely to suffer from mental illness than most other people, and that the stress of jail time is often coupled with other problems, like drug addiction and family breakdown.

"It's not an uncommon event for people to have suicidal ideation — to be thinking about suicide — and probably attempt suicide," Murphy said.

"Luckily for us, we see very few actual completions — that's not a very nice way to say it — but people who actually commit suicide."

Many of these problems could be eliminated with the construction of a new penitentiary, advocates say, which the Newfoundland and Labrador government is contemplating.

Sources told CBC News that government is considering a proposal to build a new, 250-cell prison, complete with a remand centre and proper mental health facilities. Construction could start within the next five years.