Mentally ill persons in prisons

He was arrested for stabbing another person, and the medical report considered him a mentally ill person. As consequence, he was not declared legally guilty. But due to the danger he imposed to the society, he has been kept in prison for the past 10 years.

His situation is regularly verified in court. The 59-year-old suffered from health issues and is unable to understand even the judge’s appeal for the procedures.

The problem of the mentally ill has not found a solution for year. The Prison Directory reports that they keep 117 patients in the prison of Kruja.

The court gives the obligatory medication, a measure that according to the law should be implemented by a special psychiatric institution that has not been built yet.

While the Ombudsman and the Albanian Helsinki Committee have reported that the situation of these patients becomes worse for as long they are kept as detainees.

A few days ago the Ministry of Defense donated the premises of a military unit to the Health Ministry, so that they could turn it into a psychiatric hospital for this category of people.

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