Anger at plan for indefinite detention of people with dangerous mental disorders

Plans to detain people with dangerous personality disorders in secure hospitals indefinitely even if they have committed no crime, were criticised last night as "fundamentally flawed".

Under new powers, published as draft legislation by the Government yesterday, other mentally ill people could be forced to take prescribed medication or to undergo treatment in the community.

The compulsory measures aim to close a loophole that allows people with severe personality disorders to avoid detention by arguing they would not benefit from treatment.

Ministers hailed the Bill as the first major overhaul of mental health laws since the 1950s. But the Law Society and the Royal College of Psychiatrists condemned the plans as too complex, too costly and unworkable because they would require 600 extra psychiatrists.

A joint statement said: "The Law Society and the Royal College of Psychiatrists unequivocally reject the Government's current proposals for reform of the Mental Health Act 1983. In our opinion, the proposals are fundamentally flawed."

The Mental Health Alliance, speaking for more than 50 charities, said compulsory detentions would backfire because they would deter people from seeking voluntary treatment.

The Bill would apply to more than 26,000 people a year who are sectioned under the 1983 Mental Health Act. Of these, an estimated 2,400 have "dangerous and serious personality disorders". They include 1,800 who are in high security prisons or psychiatric hospitals and another 300 to 600 living in the community.

The Independent on Sunday has been campaigning for the release of Broadmoor's "forgotten inmates", who are being held in the high security hospital because there is nowhere else for them to go.

Dr Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said he was disappointed by the "repressive legislation to lock up people with untreatable personality disorders". But Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, said there were more than 1,000 suicides and 50 homicides involving mentally ill patients each year and it was vital people were detained if they posed a high risk to the public.

"Removing someone's liberty is an extremely important step to take. In some circumstances that might be right for the individual and might be right for society as a whole but it has got to be properly balanced with new safeguards for the individual concerned," Mr Milburn said.

The Bill defines a mental disorder as "any disability or disorder of mind or brain which results in an impairment or disturbance of mental func- tioning". The deliberately broad definition aims to close a loophole in the law which has seen patients with particular disorders deemed "untreatable". This problem was highlighted in the case of Michael Stone, who was diagnosed with a severe personality disorder years before he murdered Lin Russell and her daughter, Megan, six, in 1996 but had not been sent to a secure unit. Under the plans, two doctors and a mental health professional will have to decide whether someone needs compulsory treatment to prevent them becoming a public danger.

These powers will be limited to 28 days unless a new mental health tribunal grants an order allowing the treatment to continue for another six months. After that, subsequent treatment orders can be made for periods up to a year.

The draft Bill, which is likely to be brought before the Commons this autumn, sets four conditions for compulsory treatment. The person must have a mental disorder, they must require specialist treatment, and this must must be available and be necessary for the patient's health and the protection of others. The Government has created 36 more places for such patients at Whitemoor prison, Cambridgeshire and has plans to create another 220 at other secure units around the country.

Patients forced to undergo treatment under the Bill will face treatments including drugs, group therapy and electro-convulsive treatment.

Victims of crime would have new rights to know when someone with a mental health disorder is about to be released. Patients would have a right to independent advocacy and a statutory requirement to develop care plans.

A FAILURE OF CARE DANGER MEN WHO SLIPPED THROUGH THE NET

Horrett Campbell

Detained indefinitely in a secure mental hospital for attempted murder after he entered a primary school in Wolverhampton armed with a machete during a teddy bears' picnic in July 1996. A paranoid schizophrenic, Campbell, 38, seriously injured three children and four teachers and was found hiding in a cupboard in a nearby flat.

Christopher Clunis

Clunis, 39, a care in the community patient, killed Jonathan Zito, a musician, by stabbing him in the eye as he stood on a platform at Finsbury Park tube station in north London in December 1992. Clunis, who had been released from secure care, attacked three other people before the murder. He was sent to a secure hospital.

Michael Stone

Stone, 41, a heroin addict diagnosed with an untreatable personality disorder, murdered Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter, Megan, with a hammer as they walked home through the Kent countryside. Josie Russell, who was nine, survived the attack in July 1996 despite horrific injuries. He is serving three life sentences.