HYDERABAD: While the country is grappling with the ethical issues of death penalty, another problem that goes relatively unnoticed is the mental trauma and related illnesses that hound prison inmates.Life at central prisons is breaking the psychological health of many prisoners, going by the number of inmates regularly being brought for treatment at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Erragadda.But even with a long history of mental illness afflicting inmates, none of the prisons in the state have filled the post of a psychiatrist.Every day, seven to 10 inmates from Cherlapally and Chenchalguda central prisons are brought to the IMH while on Saturday, the number goes up to 15 to 20.Some of them have conditions so advanced that they have to hospitalised for three to five weeks, records at the IMH reveal. The reason for such mental illnesses in prisoners are many.An inmate suddenly gets cut off from his social life outside.The loss of regular interaction with family and friends is likely to push him/her into a deep depression, says Dr K Sankar Rao, civil assistant surgeon at Chanchalguda central prison."One who is mentally vulnerable and physically weak is also likely to soon have psychological problems in prison as they face trouble from fellow-inmates who have been staying there for long," he adds.Biological symptoms like sleeplessness, self neglect, excessive hunger or no hunger; sudden change in behaviour patterns like withdrawal from surroundings, talking or laughing loudly with oneself, paranoid illusions etc are some of the symptoms of mental illness.These are mainly seen among inmates who are serving life imprisonment (14 years), Rao says.He adds that guilt over the offence committed and the inability to adapt to the new life within bars is an additional factor.Also, genetic proneness to illnesses, which is not a serious threat outside, can take the form of the bigger problem under incarceration. But even with such a wide range of problems, central prisons do not have an in-house psychiatrist."There are seven central prisons in state and there is a post of psychiatrist in each one of them.But no post is filled because no psychiatrist is interested in working in a prison," says Raja Mahesh, in-charge superintendent of Cherlapally central prison."In every prison, there is a special cell for the mentally ill inmates.There are 16 such inmates in the Cherlapally prison," he adds.As we do not have psychiatrists in prison, we take them to the IMH and give treatment to them according to the suggestions of the doctors," he told Express. He adds that half of the inmates, who have served a life imprisonment, will have psychological problems after their release.He also assures that the prison health team provides treatment and medicine to them as long as they are inside.
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