Hospital bed found for psychotic man who was kept in prison

A challenge to the legality of keeping a man described as psychotic and requiring urgent psychiatric treatment in prison has been struck out after the High Court heard a hospital bed has been found for him.

He has been in prison since mid January because no bed was available in an approved psychiatric unit.

Mr Justice Seamus Noonan had adjourned the man's challenge, initiated on Friday for an inquiry under Article 40 of the Constitution into the lawfulness of his detention, with a view to urgent steps being taken to find a place for him.

On Monday, he was told by Peter Finlay SC, for the HSE, a place had been secured and arrangements were being made to transfer him there.

Conor Devally SC, for the man, thanked the HSE and asked the judge to strike out the proceedings, with a recommendation for costs under the relevant legal aid scheme. The judge made those orders, remarking it was an “appropriate application that has borne fruit”.

In court documents, it was stated a number of clinicians who assessed the man had concluded he has had a relapse of schizoaffective disorder and his condition has deteriorated since being remanded in custody on January 13th. They also concluded he is psychotic and manic and needed “urgent psychiatric admission”.

Mental Health Act

He refuses to take medication and cannot be forced to do so unless detained under the Mental Health Act in an approved centre, his solicitor Ãine Flynn, of KOD Lyons Solicitors, said in an affidavit.

Although on a waiting list for the Central Mental Hospital, a psychiatrist reported that list was "substantial" with no place expected to become available in the near future, she said.

The psychiatrist considered he could be appropriately treated in a particular hospital unit and transferred later to a secure psychiatric facility if a bed was available.

The man’s lawyers argued his detention in prison breaches his rights to bodily integrity and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment.

The man, who faces a number of minor theft and other charges, was brought before Dublin District Court on January 13th on foot of a bench warrant issued the previous month over failing to answer bail requirements.

He was remanded in custody to January 20th but not produced by the prison authorities in court that day because he was unwell. He was further remanded to February 3rd when the presiding judge ordered an assessment of his fitness to be tried.

A forensic psychiatry registrar who assessed him in prison later reported he was suffering a relapse of a schizoaffective disorder and required admission as an involuntary patient in an approved hospital unit.