{"id":121018,"date":"2021-07-24T19:35:20","date_gmt":"2021-07-24T14:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=121018"},"modified":"2021-07-24T19:35:20","modified_gmt":"2021-07-24T14:05:20","slug":"gatekeeper-model-mooted-to-prevent-suicides-in-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/gatekeeper-model-mooted-to-prevent-suicides-in-prisons\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Gatekeeper Model\u2019 mooted to prevent suicides in prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GB88Q3AH1.1&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong> &#8211; Proper human treatment of prisoners is one of the aspects of ensuring human rights in India.<\/p>\n<h5><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) issues guidelines for dealing with mental health challenges. It proposes a \u2018<\/span><b>Gatekeeper Model<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019, where selected inmates would be trained to identify prisoners at risk of suicide and subsequently refer them to treatment or supportive services.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) observed that the COVID-19 virus had posed unique challenges to the world. It has also affected the prisons and correctional facilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Acting on the request of the MHA, NIMHANS<\/span><b> has issued a set of guidelines on the management of mental health issues of the prisoners and prison staff<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Guidelines by NIMHANS<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prisoners with mental disorders had to be<\/span><b> regularly assessed for the severity of the suicidal risk<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and also put on regular and supervised medication.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It proposes a \u2018<\/span><b>Gatekeeper Model<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019 where selected inmates would be trained to identify prisoners at risk of suicide and subsequently refer them to treatment or supportive services.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To address the prisoner\u2019s mental health needs, the <\/span><b>correctional facility should have links to community-based initiatives<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like the District Mental Health Program.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It proposes the introduction of <\/span><b>a buddy system in prisons. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under this, social support through trained prisoners called \u201cbuddies\u201d or \u201clisteners\u201d is provided to the prisoners.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Periodic telephone conversations with friends and family<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> should be conducted at regular intervals.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance, 58 mobile phones were purchased for prisoners in Tamil Nadu. It enabled them to make video calls to their family members in lieu of the physical interviews that were temporarily suspended in view of the pandemic.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Need of Guidelines<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a prevalence of mental illness and substance use disorder in about 80% of the prison population as per a <\/span><b>Bangalore Prison Mental Health Study.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, <\/span><b>incarcerated people are facing many vulnerabilities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> during the pandemic, which might impact their mental wellbeing. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <b>prison staff is also working under tremendous pressure. <\/b>It is <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">facing challenges in performing their duty while safeguarding themselves from contracting the infection.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The Hindu\u00a0 Relevance &#8211; Proper human treatment of prisoners is one of the aspects of ensuring human rights in India. Synopsis:\u00a0 The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) issues guidelines for dealing with mental health challenges. It proposes a \u2018Gatekeeper Model\u2019, where selected inmates would be trained to identify prisoners at&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/gatekeeper-model-mooted-to-prevent-suicides-in-prisons\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">\u2018Gatekeeper Model\u2019 mooted to prevent suicides in prisons<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212],"class_list":["post-121018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704838808},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}