A legal judgement in 2014 found that S had been unlawfully detained for 3 months because of his severe mental illness. The treatment and care he received was so inadequate that it amounted to significant breach of articles 3 [inhuman and degrading treatment] of the Human Rights Act.
The failure to apply and comply with the policies was described as willful or grossly negligent. The judge found it clear that many involved with S had little understanding of mental illness or of the assessment process needed to provide adequate assessments of the nature, extent, treatment and after-care of psychotic illness and no inclination to treat S …
The judge concluded that S has only been able to bring this case, and indeed was only able to secure his release from detention, because he had the good fortune to be advised by a duty immigration solicitor who sought Medical Justice’s assistance to arrange for an independent psychiatric assessment of him in Harmondsworth who then arranged that assessment and S’s representation by experienced detention solicitors.
