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Welcome to the EuroPris Knowledge Management System. The table below shows questions and responses from European National Agencies. Select a question for more information or use the filters on the left to narrow down questions based on Agency or Category.
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Introduction: The Austrian Prison Administration/GD) recently received the annual CoE Criminal Statistics 2019 - SPACE I and had to realize that only Austria provides figures on this topic “Persons held as not criminally responsible by the court“ or “Persons held as totally or partially criminally responsible by the court and who have been sentenced” (see table 14, page 69 of the report). Almost all other European countries provide to that the comment “NAP"- “Not applicable: The question is irrelevant; the item refers to a concept not found in the penal system of the country concerned". This fact suggests at first appearance that there are no European systems similar to the Austrian legal institution of “Maßnahmenvollzug = deprivation of liberty by measures of prevention and rehabilitation (based on the dangerousness of the offender) for a) mentally disabled offenders (two categories: responsible for their offense and not responsible for it), b) drug or alcohol addicted offenders who need treatment and c) for dangerous recidivists. These forms of deprivation of liberty are basically unlimited and carried out in prisons or special units in prisons with special treatment requirements. The responsibility for this area lies exclusively with the Federal Ministry of Justice - Prison Administration; the Justice Ministry also carries all the costs. To that regard the Federal Ministry of Justice would like your help with the following questions.
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If yes, please shortly describe your system.Spanish system provides prison for post-criminal period, both for pre-trial detainees and convicts. For those with severe mental disorder, there are psychiatric penitentiary units. In this case, a particular security measure is applicable, under the judicial criteria and with a close participation of psychosocial teams and medical care. That said, there are no similar systems of preventive security as the existing one in Austria.
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If yes, please shortly describe your system.This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.
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If yes, please shortly describe your system.no
If yes, please shortly describe your system.The custodial sentence in Latvia is executed by the Latvian Prison Administration (hereinafter – LPA) of the Ministry of Justice and its structural units (i.e. imprisonment places). They are divided into closed, partially-closed and open prisons. Pre-trial detention units have been set up at some prisons to place pre-trial detainees. The Latvian Prison Administration of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Latvia ensures the execution of detention as security measure and imprisonment. According to the national law, only a person who is guilty of a criminal offense, i.e. the person who has intentionally (knowingly) or negligently committed an offense with all the characteristics of a criminal offense, can be prosecuted and punished. Both the court and prosecutor may release a person from the criminal liability in the cases specified by the Criminal Law. Consequently, LPA has information on “Persons held as not criminally responsible by the court”, but it is defined in other ways or categories, and does not relate to the execution of a custodial sentence or detention. LPA does not collect information on persons released from the criminal liability. Normative acts determine the age of a person and other criteria according to which a person incurs the criminal liability, as well as in which cases a person may be released from the criminal liability, also after serving the sentence. As regards the “Persons held as totally or partially criminally responsible by the court and who have been sentenced”, the description is similar to the one above. This information is available, but it is divided, for example, to persons sentenced to imprisonment, forced labour (carried out by the institution under the Ministry of Finance – the State Probation Service). With regard to preventive measures, the institutions and their staff act to prevent or reduce criminal offenses.
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If yes, please shortly describe your system.Security measures can entail deprivation of freedom or deprivation of other rights and are imposed on offenders who lack criminal responsibility as a result of a relevant mental disorder, being under the effects of substance abuse and psychic alteration or perception alteration of congenital origin.. The security measures entailing deprivation of freedom comprise placement and treatment in a psychiatric health institution in a substance dishabituation institution or in a special education centre. The type of security measure and institution chosen will be determined to better meet the rehabilitation needs of offender lacking of criminal responsibility. Hence the imposition of these types of sentences is based on the dangerousness of the offender and not on their criminal responsibility. Nevertheless, security measures cannot be imposed preventatively before trial, but can only be imposed by a court’s sentence. Consequently, Spain (Catalonia) includes the numbers of inmates serving a security measure entailing deprivation of freedom together with those serving a prison sentence.
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If yes, please shortly describe your system.yes
If yes, please shortly describe your system.The civil system is for people who are a danger to themselves and to society, but have not committed any offences. Based on a court order, these people can be admitted to psychiatric institutions for a limited period, during which they are thoroughly examined. If there is an ongoing problem and they continue being dangerous, they remain in the psychiatric hospital. Their case has to be periodically re-examined. The criminal system is for people who have committed offences and have been sentenced. In the Belgian system, a person is either responsible for their actions or not; there are no gradations of responsibility. The people 1) who have committed offences “affecting or threatening the physical or mental integrity” and 2) whom a judge has held not responsible for their actions can be incarcerated in specific psychiatric hospitals (not prisons) managed by the prison service or specific institutions managed by the private sector under supervision of the prison service and the public health department. During this period, they receive the care they need. These measures are not limited in time but a specific court has to re-examine these cases at least once a year. They are definitively released when their mental state has sufficiently stabilized and there is no longer any fear that the person will reoffend. For dangerous recidivists, it is possible that the judge (so far as the law includes this possibility) pronounces a specific measure (une mise à disposition) which is added to the sentence. This specific measure can last between 5 years to 15 years; the time period is determined at the moment of sentencing. That person stays in prison or outside the prison under surveillance of the State for this specific period. Before it can be put into effect, certain specific criteria have to be met. When put into effect, the measure is periodically revised, so the inmate can request to be released. If deemed not responsible you can’t be convicted to a prison sentence for the offence committed, protective measures are pronounced instead of a prison sentence. These measures are put into effect in specific institutions not prisons. These institutions are either managed by the prison service or by the private sector under supervision of the prison service and the public health department.
This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.
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If yes, please shortly describe your system.yes
If yes, please shortly describe your system.Ιnability to charge and reduced ability to charge are provided by the Greek Penal Code (art. 34 and 36 respectively). Relevant to these situations are the articles of the Penal Code that provide for the therapeutic measures for persons exempted from the penalty due to psychic or mental disorder (art. 69A), the duration of the therapeutic measure (art. 70), the treatment measures for persons with reduced ability to charge due to psychic or mental disorder (art. 71) and the reduction of sentence (art. 83). The text of the above mentioned articles is attached.
Attachments:
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If yes, please shortly describe your system.In the Slovak Republic, a person is not held liable in case of two conditions that need not to be met cumulatively. The first case when the offender is not criminally liable is the drawback of the age of the offender. Another case is the insanity of the offender in time when the crime was committed. In terms of § 23 of the Penal Code, no person incapable of judging the seriousness of an act, which otherwise gives rise to criminal liability, at the time of its commission, or to exercise self-restraint because of mental disorder may be held criminally liable for such an offence, unless this Act provides otherwise. In the Slovak Republic, there is the institute of “detention”. It is a specific protective measure. If a prisoner during prison sentence execution is detected a mental disorder that is incurable according to an expert medical opinion and his/her stay at large also regarding the committed crime is dangerous for the society, the court on a proposal of a prosecutor or prison governor orders his/her placement in a psychiatric detention facility. The court can also decide on the placement of an offender of an intentional crime to the psychiatric detention facility prior the end of his/her prison sentence execution if he/she refuses to undergo a protective treatment or if such a treatment does not meet its goal due to the negative attitude of the patient and whose stay at large is dangerous for the society. The offender is placed to the psychiatric detention facility after the prison sentence execution. If the court considers it necessary, it can decide to place also a sexual crime offender or offender who committed a serious crime repeatedly to the psychiatric detention facility. The offender is placed to the psychiatric detention facility after the prison sentence execution. Based on an expert medical opinion, the court can place an offender to the psychiatric detention facility also if the offender whose stay at large is dangerous for the society, is treated protectively in an in-patient health care facility and his/her behaviour endangers life or health of other persons. In this case, the court decides following a proposal of the in-patient health care facility. At the moment, the psychiatric detention facility is under construction (the estimated date of the construction termination is the second half of 2021). Construction of the psychiatric detention facility, its administration and treatment of the persons detained there is within the competence of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic.
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If yes, please shortly describe your system.HMPPS does have the means of detaining people (other than on criminal grounds), including detention under the Mental Health Act, and the Immigration Act(?). None of these however, are the business of HMPPS, so the question I think would have to be directed to NHS, HMCTS and the Home Office therefore we are unable to answer the question.