Mental health problems can get worse when offenders return to the community

The HEA sought the advice of young offenders on how best to present the advice.

As a result, the postcards are designed in the style of Japanese Manga comics.

The HEA joined forces with the Department of Health, the Home Office and the prison service health care directorate to get the project up and running.

The actor Stephen Fry, who spent six months on remand when he was 18, has also given his backing to the scheme.

"'Keep your head down and do your bird,' I was told," he said.

However, this is not the best approach, he said. His advice to today's young offenders was: "Keep your head up - that is what matters.

"I taught someone to read. It is odd, teaching someone else or helping others make you feel better than anything else."

Return to the community

Lynne Friedli is the health programme manager for the HEA.

She said: "This initiative is a down-to-earth way of bringing important issues out into the open as the stigma attached to mental health problems may stop people from seeking help.

"Young offenders will come back into the community when their sentence ends and need to find a positive role.

"Unresolved problems in prison may develop into more serious difficulties in time if they are not addressed."

Factors that increase the likelihood of young offenders suffering mental health problems include:

• Lack of social support
• Lack of control over surroundings and company
• Isolation.

The postcard plan could develop into a nationwide strategy for handling mental health problems in prisons.

Dr Mike Longfield, director of health care in the prison service, said: "We will be carefully evaluating the effects of this project with a view to developing further mental health promotion schemes in prisons."