On 1 and 2 June 2023, Deputy Ombudsman Ivan Šelih, the head of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) in Slovenia, participated at the first meeting of the SEE NPM Network in 2023 in Thessaloniki, which was organised by the Greek Ombudsman as the president of the network. The topic of this meeting was the monitoring of units for mental health in prison institutions.

Deputy Šelih presented the provision of psychiatric healthcare for prisoners in Slovenian prison institutions. He stated that in Slovenia we have no prison hospitals or special hospital facilities in prison institutions. Detained people (detainees and prisoners) are hence, if necessary, treated in general healthcare institutions or hospitals. While hospitalised they are guarded by correctional officers. The only exception is psychiatric treatment, which for prisoners takes place at the Unit for Forensic Psychiatry at the Maribor University Clinical Centre (Unit). Therefore, if any prisoner needs to be hospitalised due to mental health problems, it is offered in this Unit. It is there that the security measure of mandatory psychiatric treatment and protection in a health institution for offenders who have committed an illegal act in a state of insanity or a criminal act in a state of significantly reduced sanity, if other legal conditions are met, is carried out. If necessary, observation is also carried out in this Unit for the preparation of a psychiatric expert opinion regarding the sanity or ability to participate in court proceedings, added Deputy Šelih.

He informed the participants that the Unit for Forensic Psychiatry of the Department for Psychiatry at the Maribor University Clinical Centre is under the wing of the Ministry of Health, while security there is guaranteed by correctional officers who are employed by the Prison Administration of the Republic of Slovenia of the Ministry of Justice. “We at the National Preventive Mechanism in Slovenia believe that the Unit is a good solution for the psychiatric treatment of prisoners, since medical staff provide it in a medical institution and the level of treatment is the same as for the rest of the population,” added Šelih.

He also enumerated a few recommendations for the improvement of the conditions that the NPM presented upon the visits to the Unit. They pertain to the overcrowding of the Unit, the lack of staff, the use of special protective measures (for example, the frequency of use, duration, ensuring privacy, etc.), the possibility of exercising in the open air, the use of pyjamas, prevention of violence between prisoners, house rules, videocalls, the use of appeal routes, arrangement of premises (e.g. for visits), etc.

Upon the conclusion of the meeting, the network members adopted conclusions and exchanged views on the further work of the network.