Patients demonstrate against top security detention

Three patients at the State Hospital Carstairs have been
carrying out a rooftop demonstration against their detention at the
top secure institution.

The un-named men, began the protest on Saturday climbing on to
the roof and remaining there in sub-zero temperatures. The protest
follows the release of a Scottish Hospital Advisory Service (SHAS)
report this week concluding that up to 40 patients are detained in
Carstairs because there are no medium term secure units in
Scotland. SHAS is calling for a series of alternative centres to be
established throughout the country.

Last year, following Noel Ruddle’s successful appeal
against detention on the grounds he was no longer being treated,
the Scottish executive moved quickly to introduce new legislation
closing this so-called loophole. Since the new legislation was
introduced, several appeals against detention by other
Carstairs’ patients have failed.