A review of services for vulnerable people detained in Northern Ireland prisons: The impact of underfunding.

We hope that the Northern Ireland Mental Health Strategy 2021-2031 will help fill this gap in community provision (Department of Health, 2021). Given the shortfall in funding for health services in prisons, mental health teams lack the capacity to meet the needs of prisoners, with waiting times for urgent and routine mental health assessments falling significantly below regional and national standards. Northern Ireland (NI) is a distinct jurisdiction within the United Kingdom (UK), with a population of about 1.9 million. [Extracted from the article]