Prison Services

Forensicare provides specialist forensic mental health services across 12 of Victoria’s 14 prisons. Services include mental health reception assessments, dedicated units for the care and treatment of prisoners with mental illness, as well as outpatient care and mobile forensic mental health services. Our prison services also provide suicide and self-harm prevention assessment services. There are 141 prison-based mental health beds across the Victorian prison system serviced by Forensicare. All Forensicare’s prison based specialist mental health services are voluntary.

Our prison service locations include:

• Acute Assessment Unit (Melbourne Assessment Prison)— a 16-bed short stay unit for patients thought to be experiencing mental illness, requiring psychiatric assessment and a range of recovery-oriented short-term interventions and support. Forensicare also provides initial mental health reception assessments, at-risk assessments, and care within the custodial unit to treat male prisoners experiencing mental ill-health, as well outpatient services to prisoners requiring ongoing non-residential mental health care.
• Ballerrt Yeram-boo-ee Forensic Mental Health Unit (Ravenhall Correctional Centre)—75 prisons-based mental health beds as well as assessments and outpatients services provided in maximum-security forensic mental health complex within the medium-security prison.
• Marrmak Unit (Dame Phyllis Frost Centre)—a 20-bed residential unit that provides acute, sub-acute and rehabilitative care to women experiencing mental ill-health while in prison.
• Mobile Forensic Mental Health Service (Metropolitan Remand Centre)—a mobile forensic mental health service that provides mental health treatment to prisoners experiencing mental ill-health, as well as an outpatient clinic service and initial reception assessments. The service also provides outpatient services to Barwon, Marngoneet and Kareenga prisons.
• St Paul’s Unit (Port Phillip Prison)—a 30 prison-based bed unit provides mental health care, treatment and therapeutic programs.
• Other outpatient services—Forensicare provides visiting sessions at Hopkins, Langi Kal Kal and Loddon prisons, as well as sessions by visiting psychiatrists at Hopkins, Barwon, Dhurringile, Karreenga, Loddon, Marngoneet, Middleton and Tarrengower prisons to support prisoners with their mental health recovery.

Contacting and visiting prisoners

For more information about visiting and contacting family members and friends in prison, visit Corrections Victoria: Contacting and visiting prisoners webpage.