The non-governmental organization Human rights watch has just produced a report entitled “Double punishment: inappropriate conditions of detention for people with psychiatric disorders in prisons in France”.
“Life behind bars is difficult for all inmates, point the text. However, these difficulties are even greater for the thousands of men and women incarcerated in French prisons who have mental illnesses (also called psychiatric disorders) such as severe depression, manic-depressive disorders or the schizophrenia. For people with these psychiatric disorders, a prison sentence can have long-term destructive consequences on their physical and mental health and can even lead to suicide. Inmates with psychiatric disorders are considered a population at higher risk of suicide than other inmates..
Discrimination related to illness
In this online report on the France Inter website, the NGO reveals that there is a disproportionate number of people suffering from psychiatric disorders in French prisons and that they suffer from an additional form of discrimination linked to their illness: “in addition to the difficulties associated with life in prison, they suffer other suffering because of their psychiatric disorders”.
Stigma from other prisoners, the anguish caused by being locked in a cell all night, sometimes all day, and the lack of adequate mental health care are some of the other sufferings Human Rights Watch reports.
Even less access to care for women
Female prisoners also face another form of discrimination regarding their access to mental health care: while 26 regional medical-psychological services (SMPR) in French prisons provide mental health care during the day and offer beds for the night. , only one of them offers beds for women.
In general, Human rights watch notes that there is a great disparity in the 188 French prisons and asks, among other things:
• to the Minister of Justice of “seek to reduce overcrowding in prison, in particular in remand prisons, by ordering prosecutors and judges to apply the law of 15 August 2014 which makes it possible to reduce by one third the sentences imposed on defendants whose discernment was impaired by a psychiatric disorder at the time they committed the offence”.
• to judges and prosecutors of “reduce the length of incarceration for people with severe psychiatric disorders by ensuring that people do not receive harsher sentences because of their disability”.
• to the director of the prison administration of “ensure that all supervisors receive mental health training on a regular basis and that they have sufficient time to participate in these trainings”.
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