Crimes Mental Impairment consultation paper.pdf - Victorian Law ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

7 7.32 In some cases, the unavailability of facilities and services may be due to the resources not meeting the demand for services and facilities. 7.33 Thomas Embling Hospital, the secure mental health service for people subject to the CMIA, has 116 beds. These beds are for people detained under the CMIA, as well as for people who transferred from the prison system due to a mental illness and patients from the public mental health system who require specialised management. 7.34 Beds at Thomas Embling are spread across a number of distinct units, according to two programs set out in Table 4. 7.35 The Acute Care Program comprises 60 beds in four distinct units. It is primarily for ‘patients from the criminal justice system who are in need of psychiatric assessment and/or acute care and treatment’. 17 Most patients are people detained under the CMIA because of a mental condition and remanded and sentenced prisoners with serious mental illness in need of inpatient treatment. 18 7.36 The Continuing Care Program comprises 56 beds in three distinct units. It is for patients who require ‘long-term care due to chronic [symptoms] and/or behaviours that represent a risk to the community, together with patients whose mental state has been stabilised and who are assessed as ready to commence working towards reintegration into the community’. 19 Patients are generally forensic patients, sentenced prisoners or patients/ prisoners detained by the courts. 20 Table 4: Beds and units at Thomas Embling Hospital, Forensicare 21 Acute Care Program Name of unit Number of beds Description Argyle 15 beds Male acutely ill patients in a high secure setting. Atherton 15 beds Male acutely ill patients in a high secure setting. Barossa 10 beds Females requiring acute care in a high secure setting. Bass 20 beds Male, sub-acute unit in a high secure environment. Continuing Care Program Name of unit Number of beds Description Canning 20 beds Extended and sub-acute care, supported living male unit in a high-medium secure environment. Daintree 20 beds Rehabilitation and independent living, mixed gender unit in a low-medium secure environment. Jardine 16 beds Intensive rehabilitation and independent living, mixed gender unit in a low secure environment. 17 Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (Forensicare), Thomas Embling Hospital (2010) < http://www.forensicare.vic.gov.au/page. aspxo=teh>. 18 All admissions are approved by the authorised psychiatrist or their delegate. The transfer of patients from the prison system also requires the Commissioner of Correctional Services’ approval (Corrections Victoria, Department of Justice). 19 Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (Forensicare), above n 17. 20 Admission to the units is through referral to the Unit Manager and consultant psychiatrist, and is usually generated from within Thomas Embling Hospital. 21 Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (Forensicare), above n 17. 141
Victorian Law Reform Commission Review of the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997: Consultation Paper 7.37 In February 2013, Forensicare announced that it would be required to close 16 hospital beds in the Jardine unit due to ‘the Commonwealth’s $107 million cuts to Victoria’s health system’. 22 The chief executive officer of Forensicare said: Forensicare is the sole provider of these services in Victoria and these are not decisions that our Council has taken lightly. At the forefront of Forensicare’s function is that of community safety. It is critical that Forensicare continues to provide specialist forensic mental health services to ensure that people with a mental illness in the criminal justice system receive appropriate levels of care and treatment. 23 7.38 There are 19 places in residential treatment institutions and treatment facilities. These places are available for persons who meet the criteria for admission under the Disability Act. This may include persons who are subject to a custodial supervision order. 24 There are five beds at the Long Term Rehabilitation Program (LTRP) at Plenty Residential Services in Bundoora managed within the North Division, North Eastern Melbourne Area of the Department of Human Services and 14 beds at the Intensive Residential Treatment Program (IRTP) of the Disability Forensic Assessment and Treatment Service. People subject to custodial supervision orders must also meet criteria under the Disability Act in order to be admitted to a residential institution or residential treatment facility. 25 7.39 In other cases, the particular mental condition or the type of offending behaviour presents difficulties in finding appropriate facilities or services. For example, personality disorders can be challenging to treat effectively and people with an intellectual disability with a history of sexual offending can also present challenges in supervision. 7.40 It is inappropriate for a person who has been found unfit or not guilty because of mental impairment to be in a prison. As discussed at [3.8]–[3.42], people with a mental illness, intellectual disability or cognitive impairment are particularly vulnerable in the criminal justice system. Prisons lack the specialised services required for managing and treating people subject to the CMIA and expose already vulnerable people to conditions that can be detrimental to their mental state and cause further harm. 7.41 The Community Development Committee’s review of the Governor’s pleasure regime found that many people subject to the regime were detained in prisons rather than mental health or disability services. Submissions to the Community Development Committee raised a range of issues regarding this. The Community Development Committee also referred to the problematic experiences described in a group submission by 13 Governor’s pleasure detainees. For example, one detainee said: To be honest, Pentridge is rather frightening. I had never been in prison or in trouble before … I was mixing with people I had never mixed with before and it was really frightening to say the least. 26 7.42 The Community Development Committee also heard evidence that a number of people ultimately subject to the Governor’s pleasure regime were also initially remanded in prison. 27 The Community Development Committee’s recommendation was that ‘no person who is found not guilty of a crime on the ground of metal impairment or unfit to plead on the ground of mental impairment should be detained in a prison’. 28 142 22 Henrietta Cook, ‘No Help for the Mentally Ill Facing Court Charges ‘, The Age (online), 8 February 2013 . Forensicare also announced it would be required to suspend assessments as part of the Mental Health Court Liaison Service in the Magistrates’ Court. These announcements have since been reversed due to funding being secured. 23 Tom Dalton, Chief Executive Officer, ‘Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health: Forensicare’ (Media Release, 5 February 2013) 1. 24 Data provided to the Commission by the Department of Human Services. 25 Persons must meet the criteria under section 87 for admission to a residential institution and section 152 of the Disability Act 2006 (Vic) for admission to a residential treatment facility. 26 Community Development Committee, above n 2, 47. 27 Ibid 48. 28 Ibid xv.
Page 1 and 2:
Review of the Crimes (Mental Impair
Page 3 and 4:
Published by the Victorian Law Refo
Page 5 and 6:
Victorian Law Reform Commission Rev
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
xviii
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 30 and 31:
2 The CMIA: background and principl
Page 32 and 33:
2 2.6 For the vast majority of peop
Page 34 and 35:
2 2.16 Prior to these reviews, the
Page 36 and 37:
2 Previous reviews of provisions in
Page 38 and 39:
2 Victorian Parliament Law Reform C
Page 40 and 41:
2 criminal law, 44 and is also reco
Page 42 and 43:
2 Protection of the community 2.62
Page 44 and 45:
2 Family members of people subject
Page 46 and 47:
2 2.94 The CMIA’s therapeutic aim
Page 48 and 49:
2 Principles governing the treatmen
Page 50:
2 Victorian law Mental Health Act 1
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 72 and 73:
4 Unfitness to stand trial 52 Intro
Page 74 and 75:
4 4.5 As stated in [4.11] below, un
Page 76 and 77:
4 4.16 If an accused person is foun
Page 78 and 79:
4 The test in Victoria: the ‘Pres
Page 80 and 81:
4 Decision-making capacity or effec
Page 82 and 83:
4 Question 3 Should the test for un
Page 84 and 85:
4 or rational appreciation of the p
Page 86 and 87:
4 4.57 However, expressly recognisi
Page 88 and 89:
4 4.65 Some jurisdictions have legi
Page 90 and 91:
4 Difficulty in assessing unfitness
Page 92 and 93:
4 Requirement to ‘plead’ in a c
Page 94 and 95:
4 The role of experts in the proces
Page 96 and 97:
4 4.102 More broadly, some have que
Page 98 and 99:
4 4.113 In DPP v CJC (CJC), 135 Jus
Page 100 and 101:
4 4.121 The Law Reform Committee re
Page 102 and 103:
4 Directions to the jury on finding
Page 104:
4 4.141 It is unclear why appeals a
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112: Victorian Law Reform Commission Rev
Page 133 and 134: 112
Page 155 and 156: 134
Page 161: Victorian Law Reform Commission Rev
Page 179 and 180: 158
Page 205 and 206: 184
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
220
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247 and 248:
Page 249 and 250:
Page 251:
show all

Crimes Mental Impairment consultation paper.pdf - Victorian Law ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?