Akmal Shaikh

Today, a mentally ill man by the name of Akmal Shaikh was executed in China for drug smuggling. He never had much chance of a reprieve; China take a particularly dim view of drug smuggling and its history re the Opium Wars mean that they take an even dimmer view of British drug smugglers. This is the pop song that Akmal Shaikh had written for world peace. If anything illustrates his state of mind, this does.

But before we start critisising China, I think we should take a look at our own system. How do the mentally ill fare in it? Very badly, is the answer. This report illustrates just how many people who are mentally ill, end up in jail, because there is nowhere else for them to go.

At least there is reporting on it now. When Care in the Community was introduced and people who were in institutions were suddenly put in houses, there were many objections that they were not coping. Finally, a report was commissioned to check how they were doing and where they had ended up. The report left out prisons. At one meeting I was at, a doctor from one of the Glasgow institutions stood up and said that half of the people who had been at the institution he had worked at, were now in jail. It was totally unsuitable both for the patients and the warders, who were trying to do a job that they were not trained for.

If you want to do a good deed today, you could do worse than leave a message of sympathy for Akmal Shaikh. And mention Gary McKinnon while you're at it. Instead of cursing the darkness, it's time to light a candle of hope for the mentally ill.