2.5.5. MENTAL HEALTH, DRUG ADDICTION AND SUICIDE PREVENTION IN THE PENITENTIARY SYSTEM 2.5.5.1. Mental Health Protection of mental health constitutes one of the major challenges of the penitentiary healthcare. According to the information received from the Ministry of Corrections, the number of prisoners with mental and behavioral problems reached 1 031 in December 2015. As explained by the medical personnel, a psychiatrist receives the list of prisoners wishing to get an appointment with the psychiatrist from the primary healthcare doctors. However, in a number of cases, they refuse to put some prisoners on the appointment list despite their requests, because they think the prisoners are simulating. Due to the above reason, the prisoners often cannot receive sufficient psychiatric service. Identification of prisoners with personality disorders constitutes a problem. Therefore, it is crucial to improve access to psychiatric services, as well as to deepen collaboration of the psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. These efforts should help improve the mental illness identification rate and provide adequate psychiatric assistance to the prisoners with mental problems in the differentiated regimes. Patients suffering from acute psychosis should be treated not in the penitentiary institutions but in the mental facilities. At the same time, adequate outpatient services should be introduced. According to the information received from the Ministry of Corrections, in 2015, 12 825 consultations were carried out by the psychiatrist and 8 235 patients were involved in the mental care. During 2015, 104 prisoners were placed in inpatient facilities for involuntary psychiatric assistance. It is worthwhile noting that the number of prisoners placed inpatient facilities for involuntary mental assistance has decreased compared to 2014.176 Special attention should be paid to evaluating each prisoner’s mental health at the time of admission to a penitentiary institution, during his/her initial medical examination. Prisoners inclined to self-aggression or suicide and drug-addicted prisoners should be target groups for mental health screening. In addition, prisoners who systematically demonstrate asocial behavior and there is a doubt that such behavior may be caused by their mental condition must also be subject to mental health assessment. Due to the fact that there is no effective mechanism for identifying mental health problems, prisoners who injure themselves, breach the prison regime or commit other disciplinary violations are punished with disciplinary sanctions instead of being provided with timely and adequate psychiatric assistance. Amendment to the Imprisonment 176 In 2014, 174 patients were placed in inpatient facilities for involuntary psychiatric assistance. 114 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2015