Assessment of the
practices
Preliminary
discharges
Mental
healthcare
institution
Reminder of the
recommendations
that have already
been issued
Status of the patients
Staff
Maintaining family
bonds
Correspondence
UVF
Visiting rooms
Penal institution
Maintaining family
bonds
Correspondence
137
The Minister of Justice should analyse the experience gained in executing hearings
of the liberty and custody judge, taking into account the healthcare professionals, in
order to provide them with the best practices and to organise training courses or
experience sharing.
The CGLPL recommends that the authorities in charge of granting preliminary
discharges or the measures of ending hospitalisation by court order must take into
account that between the start the measure and the day of discharge, there has been a
veritable healthcare process that has borne fruit.
Considering that, if we are entitled to demand from practitioners that they give
medical assurances, we are also entitled to expect the authorities to establish the risk
that they claim justifies the extension of a deprivation of liberty, the CGLPL
recommends that in case of a disagreement between the medical staff and the
administrative authority, the competent judge will be requested to give his ruling,
with the director of the institution being required to refer the case to him without any
formality.
It is necessary to grant the patient the legal status corresponding to his status, and
especially informing the State Prosecutor when a person admitted in free healthcare
is clearly unable to give informed consent or is placed in a seclusion room for more
than twelve hours.
The CGLPL recommends evaluating the healthcare staff required for the proper
functioning of the various structures, to strengthen the human and logistical resources
of the extra-hospital structures and to strengthen the resources of the admission units,
especially by recruiting nurses and psychologists.
The CGLPL recommends, as regards sending letters, that hospital staff should make
themselves available to patients under restraints, so that they can dictate the letters
that they wish to write, or that recourse should be provided to any other means that
allows reconciling the security requirements of the healthcare staff and the other
patients, with the right to correspondence of hospitalised patients.
The Contrôleur général regrets that some penal institutions still do not have family
living units, and that when they do exist, they are not used very often due to red tape.
The CGLPL regrets that confidentiality in the visiting rooms is still not fully ensured
due to poor soundproofing or due to the continuous presence of warders.
Incarcerated persons must be physically capable of corresponding with their
entourage (free distribution of paper, pens and envelopes).
Distinct letterboxes must be provided for each type of letter (internal, external,
health-related), and these must not be processed by the warders but only by the mail
officer, who must be bound by professional confidentiality, and letters addressed to
the medical staff must be collected by them.
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