The NPM points out the great importance that regular outdoor
exercise has for maintaining and promoting the physical and mental
health of inmates. Inmates who have a special need for care due to
advanced age or physical or mental illness must be enabled to spend
time outdoors. If necessary, they should even be required to exercise
outdoors.
It may be necessary to change conditions so that even fragile or sick
inmates can spend time outdoors (e.g. the need for toilet facilities
nearby for incontinent inmates, barrier-free access to the yard, etc.).
Psychiatric and psychological care is part of health care and, as such, must be ensured by
the institutions.
Regular visits, in particular, should help prevent the physical and emotional neglect of longtime inmates.
Inmates have the same right to care and nursing as persons who are at liberty.
Older, fragile or sick persons must be enabled to spend time in the fresh air at regular
intervals to maintain their health or promote healing.
A few weeks after the case became known, the Federal Minister of
Justice addressed the question of what arrangements are needed to
make the detention of mentally ill offenders more humane and
treatment-oriented. He deployed a working group to answer this
question. The group was tasked with surveying the current state of
detention of mentally ill offenders defining specific problem areas and
making proposals for improvement from an organisational and
legislative perspective.
Working group set up
The working group on reform includes high-ranking representatives of
the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Health and the
prison administration as well as experts and scientists with various
specialisations. The Chairwoman of the Monitoring Committee for the
Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities and a representative of the NPM were also invited.
All disciplines
represented
After discussions of principles at the plenary session, the working
group divided into four sub-working groups. They developed reform
proposals on the topics “Policy and Boundary Issues”, “Assessment”
and “Correctional Practice”, which were then discussed at the plenary
session.
The NPM representative primarily participated in the sub-working
group on Correctional Practice, which was, in turn, divided into seven
sub-groups, which concerned themselves with the following topics:
“Development and expansion of legal protection for patient’s rights“,
“Quality assurance and monitoring as well as system-related scientific
research“, “Avoidance of unconditional instructions“, “Control of the
system for the detention of mentally ill offenders”, “Placement,
treatment and care practices in correctional institutions and psychiatric
hospitals”, “Improvements in the area of conditional release” and
89
Comprehensive
evaluation
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