Punishing mental illness

Our database of sanctions for breach of Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions (ASBIs) and other injunctions reported on the official site of for contempt of court now comprises 307 cases. In 11 per cent of cases (33) the judgments of the court mention mental health issues, including addiction.

The judgments come from 52 different county courts out of the 170 in England and Wales. Two thirds are men, one third women; 46 per cent immediate custodial sentences; 32 per cent suspended sentences.

Here are some examples of punishment imposed on people with mental health issues, some extremely serious.

Floyd Carruthers was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2003. In April 2021 he breached an ASBI by banging twice on his neighbour’s door, first at 17.30 and again at 19.30, shouting “Are you coming down? Who is up there with you?”

The Court found he had breached his injunction, he was remanded in custody. When the case was again before the Birmingham County Court on 6 May 2021 the judge imposed four months immediate imprisonment.

Carruthers had an infected heart valve; he did not eat in the prison for four days. No medical personnel were called. When prison officers entered his cell they found he had collapsed. He died in hospital on 14 June 2021. The sentencing remarks show that Mr Carruthers did not understand the court proceedings.

Judge: You have an entitlement to appeal without the need...

Mr C: I am entitled to what?

Judge: Just let me finish. The sentence I have passed is one that you have an entitlement to appeal...

Mr C: Have I been found guilty?

Judge: ... without the need to obtain permission to appeal.

In October 2021, Milton Keynes County Court ordered Charlotte N to be taken from a psychiatric hospital to serve a prison sentence of six months. The judge said:

You remain an inpatient on a ward at the hospital in Warrington where several patients have tested COVID positive. I am concerned about your vulnerability and safety...You were a looked-after child from aged four due to your mother’s own mental health difficulties and you were placed in various care homes and foster care placements between aged 4 -14 yrs. Whilst in a children’s home you were the subject of sexual assault, including gang rape by older males. As an adult, you had a short marriage during which you suffered sexual and domestic abuse. You have a history of overdosing and self-harming behaviours.

She had breached an ASBI by making a noise with a wheelie bin, let the property become dilapidated, and directed a flow of vile, obscene, racist abuse at an employee of the housing trust as he was doing his job by trying to enter her flat. She had been told by the court to engage with mental health services but had not done so.

Timothy L had been under psychiatric care going back fifty years. His case was reported as follows:

A mentally ill man has been jailed for 10 days for contempt in the face of the court after yelling racist abuse at a judge at Bristol Magistrates’ Court. The judge took into account evidence that imprisonment might have a ‘negative effect’ on Mr L’s mental state and trigger episodes of aggression but said the matter had passed the custody threshold. Mr L shouted abuse on entering the court before committal proceedings for breach of an injunction began. He was removed from the court and proceedings continued in his absence. The judge imposed an eight-week jail sentence suspended for a year. Bristol City Council had initiated proceedings ‘long in the past’ against Mr L, a ‘compulsive hoarder’. The hearing where the abuse was shouted was part of ‘long-running injunctive proceedings’ related to Mr L’s council tenancy.

Natalie W was sentenced in July 2021 at Bristol County Court; she had been shouting and had made a noise outside her flat. Her baby had died, and the court commented on her mental health issues, stating that due to the Covid pandemic no mental health help was available to her. The judge said “I am very sorry to see her in such a distressed state” and went on to say that he hoped she will get help. The court imposed four months suspended imprisonment.

Geraldine T breached an injunction by arguing, using threatening, abusive and offensive language, and shouting at excessive volume. She is mentally ill and had been sectioned. In September 2021 Birmingham County Court sentenced her to four months immediate custody.

Evelyn C breached her injunction by making a noise, banging doors, shouting and swearing. On 16 December 2020 Central London County Court dealt with Evelyn C’s breach of an ASBI. She was not present and was not represented. The Court imposed four weeks’ suspended imprisonment. The judgment states:

Ms C is 76 years old and has various medical conditions. The behaviour amounting to contempt may be indicative of underlying mental health issues, and the Court noted the previous involvement of mental health professionals. The Court recognised the stress caused by these proceedings, which was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and that as a result of her anti-social behaviour Ms C is at risk of losing her home through possession proceedings [brought by the housing trust].

Ms Marriott, who is mentally ill, committed a crime for which the maximum imprisonment is six months. On 3 March 2023 she was taken to court for breach of an ASBI and committed to 12 months in custody. Dialling 999 without medical need would fall under s.127(2) of the Communications Act 2003:

A person is guilty of an offence if, for the purposes of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety, he…sends a message that he knows to be false…or persistently makes use of a public electronic communications network. Under s.127(3), the maximum penalty for this offence is 6 months’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

The judge said he had no option but to commit her to prison for six months, for ASBI breach. Immediately out of prison, she repeated exactly the same very behaviour (calling 999) as before. This time, the court committed her to 12 months immediate imprisonment.

Alternatives

I believe that imprisonment is not the solution to the problems posed by anti-social behaviour. Imprisonment contravenes the basic legal principle of proportionality. The Civil Justice Council reported on this subject in 2020, pointing out the disproportionate punishments imposed and their finding that half the defendants had no legal representation, many were committed to prison in their absence, many were extremely vulnerable. They made 15 recommendations to improve the system; none have been implemented.

Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions come within civil not criminal law. In the criminal law there are protections for the defendant: pre-sentence reports, referral to probation service for support, etc. Furthermore, in criminal cases there are out-of-court disposals, diversion and pre-court measures available to the police to deal with less serious low-level crime.

There is evidence that these measures have been largely successful and have kept people subject to them out of the criminal justice system. For example, see New Chance, run by West Midlands police. Help with drug and alcohol problems, housing and employment issues, and mental health problems have proven effective in curbing criminal activity and lessening the harm to communities. These approaches which have been found to be effective in the criminal system should be applied to anti-social behaviour, which although not criminal, may lead to custody.

Contempt of Court imprisonment raises basic questions of social justice. It is an anomaly in that people are given a criminal sanction of imprisonment for behaviour that is not criminal. This violates the law as set out in S.230 (2) of the Sentencing Act 2020: imprisonment is a last resort to be used only when “an offence was so serious that neither a fine alone nor a community sentence can be justified for the offence”.

Problems arise when mental illness and addiction lead to anti-social behaviour, which require measures that respect human rights, with a welfare, not a punitive, approach to medical and social problems.

Dr Rona Epstein  Honorary Research Fellow, Coventry Law School.

She would like to thank The Oakdale Trust which has funded this research.