Hundreds detained under Mental Health Act put in Sussex Police cell

Hundreds of people detained under the Mental Health Act are being held in police cells – despite criticism that the continuing practice is “intolerable”.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which runs mental health services in the county, says it is working with police to try to make sure fewer people are detained in the first place and fewer end up in cells.

Five “places of safety” – designed to cater for those who are detained – are open at psychiatric units in the county but the majority of those detained are still being taken to police custody.

In 2008 the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said that practice was “intolerable” and could “criminalise behaviour which is not criminal”.

The IPCC repeated its criticism when statistics, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed 75% of people detained under the section were taken to custody, with only 800 out of 3,200 taken to hospital between April 2008 and April 2010.

Sussex Police Authority papers this year showed 357, or about 70%, were detained in police custody and 151, or about 30%, taken to hospital between April and June this year.

Marian Trendell, head of social care at Sussex Partnership, said the number of people taken to police cells in September this year was 96, or 55%, compared with 78, or 45%, who were taken to hospital.

She said some people would always need to go to police custody, particularly if they were aggressive or too drunk to be properly assessed.