'It does not matter to them whether I am mad or bad. They do not know the answer and they do not care just so long as I am kept out of sight and out of mind'. - Robert Maudsley, c. 2003

In 1974, after Robert Maudsley had murdered John Farrell, he surrendered himself to the police and asked to be given psychiatric help.

Farrell had admitted to Maudsley that he was a paedophile, showing him horrific images of the abuse he had forced on children. Maudsley, who himself was abused as a child from as young as 6 months, had snapped and murdered him from the force of the feelings triggered by seeing these. Once in prison, Maudsley asked to be kept away from other child sex offenders to prevent a re-occurrence of this, as he had not been given adequate mental health input to prevent this, but unfortunately this did not happen and Maudsley went on to murder 3 more inmates. All men who were convicted of child sexual abuse, domestic violence or rape, issues that Robert was particularly sensitive to. Robert Maudsley was placed in solitary confinement in 1983, and hasn’t been released since. 

Maudsley now holds the sad record for the longest amount of time a prisoner has spent in solitary confinement in the UK. He is 71 years old, and as far as the public know, he still has not received proper psychiatric care for the long term and deep rooted issues he will be suffering from after an extremely traumatic childhood. This treatment of Maudsley reflects poorly on the British justice system as a whole, showing that punishment is being prioritised over rehabilitation. Not only has this denied Maudsley any chance of re-integrating with society, it has further alienated him even from the small world outside of his glass cell. His last appeal for lenience in 2000, where he requested either a relaxation on these strict rules or to be allowed to ingest a cyanide pill, was rejected. Who wouldn’t wish for death over a life spent in one room? 

I would ask the government to look at this case and ask if it can be called humane to treat another human being, who was suffering from mental illness and asked for help, to be treated this way.