Nagaland: Prisoners’ right to mental healthcare in danger

Ketholeno Neihu
Kohima | May 4

While the Nagaland State Government takes its time to set up a functional State Mental Health Board, an inmate at the Dimapur Central Jail, who requires and is legally entitled to mental healthcare from the State, has been unable to receive the same.

The case pertains to a 32 year old inmate (name withheld) who was convicted under Section 302/304/436 IPC, and sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2011 murder of two persons in Mon. The judgment was announced at the Court of the District and Sessions Judge, Mon on May 24, 2016.

In response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Morung Express with the Directorate of Prisons, the Legal Officer, Prisons HQ informed that the convict, who was transferred to the Central Jail Dimapur on July 28, 2016, has been examined by doctors of the District Jail Dimapur and the “opinion is that his mental health conditions require removal from prison” as per the State Government’s 2013 notification.

The notification, dated March 2013 from the Home Department, directed that no mentally ill persons should be lodged in jails; and that, should any prisoner manifest symptoms of mental ailments, the authority is required to intimate the condition to the appropriate Court.

In May, 2020, the Assistant Inspector General of Prisons (AIGP), Central Jail, Dimapur wrote to the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Dimapur to transfer the prisoner to a mental hospital so as to “avert any catastrophic situation.”

He informed the court that the prisoner was being constantly monitored and his medical needs looked into by the Central Jail Authority at District Hospital Dimapur by a Psychiatrist. The AIGP informed that since early 2020, the prisoner’s mental health worsened; he became more violent and aggressive. “In the most recent instance, he even physically harmed one fellow prisoner and even one guarding staff,” he informed. Thereafter, the prisoner has been kept in solitary confinement.

Outside purview of court
In response to this letter, the Principal and Sessions Judge, Dimapur observed that the concerned person is a convict, not an under-trial prisoner, and in terms of the Mental Health Care Act 2017, the matter is outside the purview of the Court.

The Judge advised the AIGP to write to the State Government to put up the matter before the State Mental Health Board for removal/transfer of the convict to a mental asylum or other place of safe custody. The Judge advised that these steps be taken under Section 30 of the Prisoners Act read with Section 103 of the Mental Health Care Act.

Subsequently, in June 2020, the Inspector General of Prisons and the Assistant Inspector General of Prisons wrote to the Principal Secretary and the Director General of Prisons respectively intimating them of the matter.

A year later, on June 30, 2021, the State Sentence Review Board held a meeting and directed the Principal Director, Health and Family Welfare to immediately convey instructions to the Nagaland State Mental Health Board to take custody of the convict for treatment under Section 30 of the Prisoners Act read with Section 103 of the Mental Health Care Act.

No action seems to have been taken after this meeting. The Director General of Prisons issued two reminders dated August 27, 2021 and March 8, 2022 to the Principal Director, Health and Family Welfare. In the latest reminder, he reiterated that the convict “can pose a hazard to his own life and could potentially endanger other inmates due to his health and continued irregular incarceration in the prison.”

While the documents furnished by the Directorate of Prisons say that “timely medical follow up and attention” of the prisoner is being done, the Psychiatrist at the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP), Dimapur who first received the case in 2016 said that Jail authorities had not gone through proper channels and did not, as per advice, “take proper/detailed history from a clinical psychologist.”

“If the case is sensitive and needs to be hospitalized at any mental health institute, then the concerned doctor should forward the case to the State Mental Health Institute because there is no other place in the state to accommodate and treat them,” the Psychiatrist added. He opined that the Medical Officer at the jail should have forwarded the prisoner to a psychiatrist to confirm whether the convict can be lodged in the jail or be shifted to an asylum.

“Review is important for such cases and one visit from the jail to any psychiatrist will not give any conclusion and therefore proper psycho-analysis is required to rule out anti-anxiety or psychiatric conclusion,” the Psychiatrist added.

The delay in setting up of a functional State Mental Health Authority (SMHA) had been a hindrance in tackling such issues, said an official from the State Health Department on condition of anonymity.

While drafting of rules for State Mental Health Board is said to have been submitted, the department is reportedly awaiting reply from the Centre to further set up review boards.

On this issue, the Kohima Bench of the Gauhati High Court had also taken exception on the State’s failure to set up a functioning State Mental Health Board. On March 2, 2022, the Court directed the Nagaland Government to ensure that the State Mental Health Authority and the Boards under it are functional within 3 months with effect from March 2.

Source: https://morungexpress.com/nagaland-prisoners-right-to-mental-healthcare-in-danger