'Criminal justice system lacks protection for people with mental-health issues'.

RAWALPINDI -- As many as 50 million people suffer from some sort of mental illness in the country and the lack of mental health treatment and training generally means many of them never even get diagnosed.

This was stated by experts at a training workshop arranged at Holy Family Hospital (HFH) by Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) titled 'Protecting human and legal rights of mentally disordered persons.'

They said research showed that one in seven prisoners had a serious mental health condition.

'Unfortunately, most destitute prisoners come into contact with mental health professionals for the first time in prison.'

Even though people with mental illnesses are among the most vulnerable groups in Pakistan, their vulnerability is seldom recognised or afforded the appropriate level of protection in the criminal justice system.

According to a latest report by the Prison Reforms Commission constituted by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), there are 594 prisoners with mental disorders in various jails across Pakistan. These prisoners are often labelled as 'inherently dangerous' and consequently subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, they said.The workshop aimed at providing lawyers, mental health professionals, students and activists information and insight about mental illness and intellectual disability and how people with either or both are identified or overlooked in the civil and criminal justice system.

The training consisted of interactive sessions on interface between the criminal justice system and the mental health act and how mental health practitioners...