The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has published an inquiry report into mental health in prisons.
The PAC highlights that despite setting ambitious objectives for providing mental health services to prisoners, the government does not know how many people in prisons have a mental illness, or how much it is spending on treating them, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report.
The NAO estimates that around £400 million was spent in 2016/17 on prisoners’ healthcare in England. This included treatment for 7,917 mental health patients.