Mental health and deaths after police contact : why Seni's Law is welcome but more is needed

source: OpenDemocracy
published: 23 November 2018

Olaseni Lewis died after being restrained by police officers in a mental health hospital. An inquest found that “excessive, disproportionate and unreasonable force” was used.

In response, Seni’s Law – hard fought for by his family – passed into law earlier this month. Seni’s Law requires hospitals to collect and publish data on how and when physical force is used. It also led the Minister Jackie Doyle Price to make commitments to consider the issue of the lack of independent investigations into deaths in mental health settings.

But the law, although a step in the right direction in reducing the number of deaths in mental health hospitals and units, won’t address or resolve deeper-seated issues in mental health care. Why is it that so many people going through mental health crises are met with force by the police in the first place, and why are so many of those who are, black? Why do so many with mental health problems end up in police cells and even prisons rather than hospitals? And what can we - as citizens, and as health professionals, do about it?

The death of Olaseni Lewis
On the 31st of October 2010, 23-year-old Olaseni Lewis admitted himself into Bethlem Royal Hospital in Beckenham for mental health treatment. He had previously not displayed signs of mental illness, but on the evening of 29th October, his family and friends noted he was flitting between calm and agitated states.

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