Though institutional care for people suffering from mental illness was phased out in the last century, mentally disordered offenders remain the exception to this rule. The numbers detained in medium secure care have increased and new initiatives in high secure care have created specialist facilities for individuals thought to be particularly dangerous to other people. This means that the nature of institutional life, and in particular the balance between continuing detention for its own sake and care and treatment designed to allow for discharge to a more normal life in the community, should continue to pre-occupy us. Secure Lives is a unique study of life in a high security hospital, based on original research material obtained in the mid 1990s. Compelling personal accounts from staff and patients, as well as case study material, illustrate the complex culture of a high security hospital. The book explores the complex relationship that exists between staff and patients, the social hierarchy, and life amongst potentially dangerous and mentally ill individuals. Though there are many texts on forensic psychiatry in practice, this book provides a first-hand account of life in an environment never seen by those outside its walls.

About the Author
Annie Bartlett is Professor of Offender Health Care at St Georges, University of London. She is an experienced university teacher and researcher with a background in Social Anthropology. She has published extensively on social exclusion and mental health. She has been a consultant in Forensic Psychiatry for twenty years, and currently works clinically in CNWL NHS Foundation Trust.

Reviews
Secure Lives will be of great use to anyone interested in the inner workings of a High Secure Hospital. It provides a rare insight into the inner workings of these closed institutions....Bartlett and her team were in situ to observe changes in management and in relationships between members of staff. Secure Lives is also highly readable....I found that the chapters on anthropological practice, reflexivity and methodology were filled with new terminology and practices, but Barletts style, humour and self-awareness bring personality and liveliness to what could easily have been a dense text. Finally, for anyone interested in institutions from that time period, whether historian or psychiatrist, the book serves as a valuable historical document that encapsulates life on the wards of Smithtown. * Erin J Lux, University of Strathclyde; History of Psychiatry *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199640928
Author Annie Bartlett
Format Paperback
Page Count 378
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 180mm * 22mm