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towards the inhabitants of the institutions; the chances of efficiently handling the latters’ streaks of
aggression towards themselves and their peers are diminished. Applying corporal and collective
punishment, using cleaning and copying written texts as forms of punishment, suggested by the notices,
rules of conduct, and instructions readable on the notice boards hung on the walls of certain premises
of the Reformatory, in addition to being based on elements that are educationally-psychologically and
legally unacceptable, result in an impropriety related to the prohibition of degrading treatment or
punishment. I recommended to the Reformatory’s operator to ensure regular supervision, organize
training sessions for the professional staff on prevention, attitude-shaping, and sensitization in the field
of accepting vulnerable groups. I suggested to the Head of the Reformatory to remove the notice
boards displaying rules and orders that are impossible to comply with and referring to degrading forms
of treatment and punishment and to stop using collective, degrading punishment. I also recommended
considering adding the prohibition of using work as a sanction to the rules of disciplinary procedure.
8.2. Detainees in penitentiary institutions
8.2.1. Forensic Psychiatric and Mental Institution155
The FPMI is a special healthcare institution combining, in a unique way, classical psychiatric care and
law enforcement. The FPMI operates in three separate buildings on the premises of the Budapest Strict
and Medium Regime Prison. The three psychiatric rehabilitation wards in Building I provide care to
male and female patients sent in for compulsory treatment or temporary compulsory treatment, and to
mentally incompetent detainees. In Building II, the psychiatric and neurological evaluation of persons
detained in the penitentiary system, the observation of the mental condition of persons in pretrial
detention, as well as the examination and treatment of detainees of diminished capacity or suffering
from personality disorder are conducted. Building III of the FPMI is inhabited exclusively by patients
under compulsory treatment.
At the time of the visit, there were 215 patients156 in the institution with the capacity of 311 patients
(utilization rate: 69.1%).
The FPMI’s wards were, in general, too large and, typically, overcrowded. There were several wards
larger than 60 square meters in use. There were up to 15-16 persons treated in those wards. I requested
the Director General of the Hungarian Prison Service and the Chief Medical Director of the FPMI to
have the large wards remodeled into smaller ones and to provide adequate living space for all detainees.
The number of barrier-free showers and restrooms in the institution was insufficient. There was a
“barrier-free” restroom where a wheelchair could not fit in. There were mold growths on the showers’
walls, the hot water supply did not work properly, and patients had to stand in a line in front of the
restrooms in the morning hours. I requested the Director General of the Hungarian Prison Service and
the Chief Medical Director of the FPMI to have the appropriate number of barrier-free restrooms
created, the mold growths removed, and an adequate hot water supply system installed.
Report № AJB-766/2017
Section 1 of Minister of Justice Decree 13/2014. (XII. 16.) IM on compulsory treatment, temporary compulsory treatment, and the
tasks of the Forensic Psychiatric and Mental Institution (hereinafter the “FPMI Decree”) distinguishes between two types of inpatients:
- patient is a person whose compulsory treatment or temporary compulsory treatment was ordered by a court, or whose designated place
of imprisonment is the FPMI;
- sent-in patient is a person whose mental state is observed on the order of the court; an accused who has to spend pretrial detention in
the FPMI; a person who, while being subject to a sanction or a measure, is sent in by a physician to the FPMI for examination or
treatment; or a convict sentenced to imprisonment whose examination is necessary for making a decision regarding his or her placement
in a medical-therapeutic unit.
155
156
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