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In spite of a major step forward in terms of occupational engagement of inmates at penal
facilities, many of them are still without work and occupational activities remain
insufficient.
There is no appropriate mechanism in place for gradual reintegration of released convicts
into the community.
The Supervision Unit has not been separated from the Administration for Enforcement of
Penal Sanctions and attached to the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, which
would have enabled it to oversee the work of the Administration as a whole.
6.4.
Detention of persons with mental disorders to psychiatric hospitals
In the course of 2014, the NPM visited Special Psychiatric Hospital “Sveti Vracevi” to inspect
compliance with earlier recommendations, as well as Special Hospital for Psychiatric Diseases
“Dr. Slavoljub Bakalović” in Vršac as part of regular inspection visits. He also issued a Report
with Recommendations to Special Hospital for Psychiatric Diseases “Kovin“106.
During the visits it was found that courts acted and passed decisions on involuntary
commitment in accordance with the Law107 and within the time limits set by the Law. Hearings
are held at the hospital, where the person whose involuntary commitment is decided on gives
his/her statement. The patient is required to sign an advice of delivery of the court decision,
which advice of delivery is then returned to the court with the patient’s signature as proof of
his/her receipt of the decision on involuntary confinement108.
Certain psychiatric hospitals have done adaptation and renovation work109. Toilets are now
designed to provide privacy to patients. Hospitals encourage patients to wear their day clothes
during the day and hospital rooms and other areas where patients stay (communal areas, halls,
dining rooms...) are decorated to create a more humane environment and reflect the specific
nature of the patients who use them. Hospitals encourage patients to bring with them their
personal belongings and photographs, as well as books and magazines.
However, the rooms in the large psychiatric hospital in Kovin are dilapidated and do not meet
the applicable standards 110. Large rooms, some of them even featuring more than 20 beds, are
not conductive to creating a positive therapeutic environment, nor do they give the patients their
privacy 111. Furthermore, hospital rooms and other areas where patients stay (communal areas,
halls, dining rooms...) are mostly not decorated to create a more humane environment and reflect
the specific nature of the patients who use them.
Psychiatric hospitals hold information sessions for their patients and provide technical support
in the organisation and conduct of elections for and operations of the Patients’ Council 112, thus
allowing patients to participate in the making of decisions that are important and relevant for
their stay and treatment at the hospitals.
Hospitals keep records of the exact time when the physical restraint/binding of a patient began
(which is entered immediately upon applying the measure), the exact time when the restraints
Visit conducted in December 2013.
Law on the Protection of Persons with Mental Disabilities (Official Gazette of RS No. 45/2013).
108 Report of Visit to the Special Psychiatric Hospital “Sveti Vračevi”, No. 71-15/14, and Report of Visit to the Special
Psychiatric Hospital Kovin, No. 71-73/13.
109 Special Psychiatric Hospital “Sveti Vračevi” Novi Kneževac and Special Psychiatric Hospital “Dr. Slavoljub
Bakalović” Vršac.
110 Special Psychiatric Hospital Kovin, No. 71-73/13.
111 Special Psychiatric Hospital Vršac, 71-26/14, and Special Psychiatric Hospital Kovin, No. 71-73/13.
112 Special Psychiatric Hospital Kovin, No. 71-73/13 and Special Psychiatric Hospital “Sveti Vračevi” No. 71-15/14.
106
107
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