Hi, I’m carrying out my master thesis on people who were sentenced to serve time in prison and who, during incarceration, present psychiatric decompensation. I’m interested in the official procedure that applies to this type of person. To do this, it seems important to compare different procedures based on national legislation. For example, here is a brief presentation of the procedure in Belgium:
In Belgium, a prisoner who, during their detention, is in a state of “dementia, mental disorder or mental retardation, making them incapable of controlling their actions” is placed in a “secured” psychiatric section to access therapeutic care under a law called the “Loi de Defense Sociale”. In our country, the prisoner is first placed on the psychiatric wing of the prison and they are subject to an observation by a psychiatrist. If during the evaluation, the psychiatrist notices the presence of one of the aforementioned states, a request is made to the Minister of Justice to transfer them to an appropriate social protection establishment. Once this request has been accepted, the prisoner resides in one of the social protection establishments where they will again be evaluated and transferred to the service that best matches their needs. Then, the duration of the stay depends on the mental development of the prisoner and the possibility of their social rehabilitation. Once the prisoner's mental state has improved, the psychiatric hold is then lifted and they can continue to serve their sentence in prison. The time left to serve is decided by the “commission de Défense Sociale” who makes decisions relative to parole and release dates. The “commission de Défense Sociale” is composed of a magistrate, a lawyer and psychiatrist.
I would like to know the procedure for people who present psychiatric decompensation during a prison sentence in your country. I would very much appreciate if you could explain your country’s procedure in a few lines so that I can compare different judicial systems in my thesis.
Thank you in advance.
you should read part of this article our prisons are to understaffed to really meet the mental health demands of our prison systems.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/crcl/vol41_2/fellner.pdf
Dear Derya,
I send you two links about the situation in penitenciary sistem in Spain. The fin is an juridic analysis and the second is a Program of tratament with prisoner that have intelectual disability.
http://www.policia.gov.co/imagenes_ponal/dijin/revista_criminalidad/vol57_1/v57n1a03.html
http://www.institucionpenitenciaria.es/web/export/sites/default/datos/descargables/publicaciones/Intervencion_Discapacitados_Segovia_accesible.pdf
Both documents are in Spanish.
Antonio Viedma
There is a similar process in Canada, someone in prison who has mental health problems will be treated in prison if possible, first through the usual health services and then through special psychiatric units within prisons. There is a legal option, however, for highly impaired or difficult to treat prisoners to be transferred to secure psychiatric facilities.
If a sentenced prisoner in Germany develops a mental health problem usualls the prison doctor consults a psychiatrist. Minor problems are treated in the prison, if longer treatment or major disorders like psychosis occur there are three possibilities: 1. some federal states have prison hospitals with psychiatric departments (Berlin, Baden-Würtemberg and Nordrhein-Westfalen), but usually to small to treat all Patients. 2. the patient is treated in a forensic-psychiatric hospital according to section 65 of the Strafvollzugsgesetz or 3. the patient is treated in a normal psychiatric hospital also under section 65 of the Strafvollzugsgesetz - but this is only for patients with low security level. In all three solutions the treatment is initiated by the prison doctor and mandated by the prisons director. If there is no longer need for an inpatient treatment the prisoner returns to his prison by order of the prison director following the recommendation of the psychiatrist.
Hello there! First, i want to thank all of your for your answers. But i still need help councerning my master thesis. I would like to know if some of you have information or literature about about France, Italy, The Netherlands and United-Kingdom.
Thank you very much!
In Spain there is a comprehensive programme of action for people deprived of their liberty with mental illnesses
http://www.institucionpenitenciaria.es/web/portal/Reeducacion/ProgramasEspecificos/enfermosMentales.html
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Social Psychology
- Attitude