JUSTICE FOR ALL
key was “an agreement and trust” between
the staff and the patients. He took the risk (of
potential incidents) when allowing patients to
go outside and/or to go home over weekends
or holidays. “But if I estimated that someone
was really dangerous, I sent him to a closed
ward – for a certain period of time.” Žagar
(2023) also said: “There should be a forensic
open part and a forensic closed part and I
don't really like what's there (in Maribor) now,
because it's mostly a closed part, and they
don't have the courage for an open part, like
I had. Well, you don't have to praise me, but
you have to be self-confident and work with
some risk. I worked with risk and I was aware
of it.”
On the reasons for moving (actually closing)
the department in 1998, Dr. Žagar (2023)
said: "I have to say that since the department
was opened, since it was formed, colleagues
started saying ‘this doesn't belong here, these
are criminals, they need to go somewhere
else, as far away as possible. There are
teenagers here, what if someone attacks a
teenage girl’ and I don't know what else. But
there was never anything." Until 1998, the
DFSP was part of a Mental Health Centre, but
as explained by Kondža and Kobal (2014), “the
ward was a stranger in the dynamic Center
for Mental Health. The organisers, therapists
and staff were aware of this and constantly
looked for opportunities for its independence
from other units of the hospital, so that it
would not physically and emotionally disturb
those who were doing different work. They
overtook us and in 1998 the department was
abolished, and the remaining patients were
placed in the secured ("intensive") department
of the psychiatric clinic in Polje in Ljubljana."
The “open door” policy was no longer there.
When asking Dr. Žagar about the potential
for re-establishing such an open forensic
and social psychiatry ward, he said: “The
main question is who would work there.
Who would want to work there and for what
money?” As he further explained: “You know,
a working team is very important. We were
considered to be the most harmonious team.
We got along well and respected each other,
and we also respected the patients, because
if there was any disrespect, I couldn't stand
it. Even if you killed someone in a certain
situation in your life, that did not stop you
from being a person who deserves respect.
… If there is no harmony, then fighting and incidents occur. …But back then this wasn't the
case. Why wasn't it? Probably also because
of our relationship. Attitude is important.
Punishment... in 500 years, not even in 500
years... they will be appalled by the punitive
policy we (now) have.”
The forensic unit as such (be it closed or semiclo sed or open) is a specific place and the
following quote best describes it: "It is difficult
to draw a line between freedom and non-freedom in the department. Here, two completely
different institutions meet: medical and
judicial, which have quite different points of
view and different approaches to solving the
same issues. The court enforces the principle
that people living in a social community must
follow valid social norms, which also applies
to mental patients - and psychiatry enforces
the principle that a patient is just a patient,
regardless of possible legal measures against
him. With mutual tolerance, we can carry out
all the therapeutic activities that are necessary in the ward (therapeutic communities,
occupational therapy, recreational activities,
contacts of the patients with their relatives,
free exits, etc.), although we have to agree to
the closed-door system and the fact that the
approval and consent of the court is required
for the permanent discharge of the patient.
The partial restriction of freedom therefore
applies not only to patients, but also to the
therapeutic team. This is a reality that must
be considered" (Kondža 1976, 59).
As pointed out, the collection “Challenges in
forensic psychiatry” was published in 2014,
which completely ignored the long-term
practice, experience and successes of the
DFSP, "which worked for over 30 years at
high humane, social and professional level".548
To conclude, Dr. Žagar said: “In our society,
everything in retrospect, even what was
positive, is forgotten, and we start all over
again.”
133
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