Lateline
By Suzanne Smith
June 26, 2012
Medical experts are appealing to the Northern Territory Government to address a law that sees mentally impaired people kept in jail indefinitely, without being convicted.
Alice Springs has an acute lack of mental health facilities, so high-needs clients end up in jail.
Four men are currently being held in the Alice Springs jail without being convicted of a crime and with no release date because they were deemed "unfit to plead".
It is a practice that has been described as tantamount to torture.
WHILE IT SAYS 'MENTALLY IMPAIRED' IN THE REPORT, IT SEEMS THEY ARE REFERRING RATHER TO PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL OR CONGITIVE IMPAIRMENT. NOT SAYING THAT MAKES IT BETTER IN ANYWAY, IT'S JUST DIFFERENT TERMINOLOGY TO WHAT WE WOULD USE IN NZ.
FOR THE FULL TV NEWS CLIP, WHICH I RECOMMEND WATCHING VISIT:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-25/mentally-impaired-being-held-in-nt-prisons-without-conviction/4091940?WT.svl=news1
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