•
record the particularities relevant to the placement and further treatment of the
sentenced person, in particular: disability, whether the sentenced person smokes,
possible danger or disturbance to other sentenced persons, danger from other
sentenced persons, adjustment problems, need for an interview with a
psychologist or other counsellor, social problems;
•
obtain a statement from the convicted person as to whom the institution should
inform in the event of his/her hospitalisation or death.145
On the doctor's referral, the prison allows the sentenced person to receive treatment or
a medical examination from a health care provider outside the prison. The doctor refers
the sentenced person for treatment or examination to the nearest hospitals or medical
establishments, unless they consider it necessary to refer the person to a specific medical
establishment. A convicted person in (an acute) need of psychiatric treatment is referred
to the Forensic Psychiatry Unit of the University Medical Centre in Maribor.146 However,
according to the interviewed judge, these referrals to other institutions are short term
and the person is then transferred back to the prison.147 This was also confirmed by an
interviewed psychiatrist, meaning that the same prisoners can be transferred back and
forth between the prison and the forensic psychiatry unit several times.148
The National Preventive Mechanism at the Human Rights Ombudsman (NPM) performs
regular visits of to the Slovenian prisons, including the pre-trial detention facilities. The
NPM often receives prisoners’ complaints concerning the availability of a psychiatrist, for
example that the psychiatrist is not present in prison for a sufficient amount of time and
that prisoners have to wait too long for psychiatric help.149 Namely, psychiatrist providing
psychiatric care are not employed by prisons but work within the public health network
and the prisons conclude agreements with public health care institutions that they will
provide psychiatric care. The frequency of the psychiatrists’ presence in a prison varies
from institution to institution. Sometimes practical issues such as sick leave of the
145
Article 9 of the Rules on the implementation of prison sentences (Pravilnik o izvrševanju kazni
zapora), 17 July 2019.
146
Article 38 of the Rules on the implementation of prison sentences (Pravilnik o izvrševanju kazni
zapora), 17 July 2019.
147
Interview with a judge.
148
Interviews with psychiatrists.
149
Varuh človekovih pravic (2019), Letno poročilo Državnega preventivnega mehanizma za leto
2018, Ljubljana, Varuh človekovih pravic, pp. 164, 172.
48
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