I WOULD like to express my thanks to the Gazette (Page 1, May 16, “Tendring in grips of mental health crisis”) for drawing attention to the mental health crisis in Tendring.

Chief Insp Paul Wells, District Commander, wrote an excellent article which shows he understands the best way for the police to deal with a mentally ill person.

However unless a crime is involved the mentally ill should, where possible, be dealt with by paramedics.

The problem with police intervention is that the mentally ill tend to end up in prison.

In that respect we are on a par with a third world country.

About one in five adults have a mental illness in any given year and it can begin at any age.

This can happen due to a number of reasons, for example, financial problems a family death or divorce.

So it is not always due to drugs or alcohol.

Once in prison you are too ill to defend yourself and even if you could no one will listen to a mentally ill defendant.

The Prison Reform Trust state ‘It is difficult to imagine anywhere more likely to make an ill person worse and drive some to suicide than the bleak impersonal environment of an overcrowded prison.’

Last year there were 92 suicides in prison and 20,000 self harmed themselves repeatedly.

An estimated 5000 people at any one time are thought to be too ill to be in prison.

The government are unable to provide a figure for the number of mentally ill in prison.

I have brought this to the attention of our MP who is unable to help.

Michael Coughtrey

Woodrows Lane, Clacton