More than 60 representatives from national preventive mechanisms (NPMs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) across Europe and Central Asia, along with leading experts, have shared their experiences to address the challenges and risks faced by people with mental health conditions in places of detention.
Over two days of discussions, delegates identified the differences and common challenges relating to mental health across different detention settings, including prisons, pre-trial detention, psychiatric hospitals, social care facilities and in immigration detention.
Participants at the Sixth Regional Meeting on Torture Prevention for NPMs and CSOs also described the ways in which people pass through these different detention settings and how this can impact on their mental health conditions and vulnerabilities.
A key topic was the important role that NPMs can play to promote deinstitutionalisation, community-based services and alternatives to incarceration for people with mental health conditions.”
Participants highlighted the importance of ensuring meaningful engagement with persons with mental health conditions when planning and undertaking visits to places of detention. They also discussed the importance of NPMs including monitors with lived experience, who can bring added value by helping people deprived of liberty feel more comfortable to discuss their mental health needs and concerns.
NPMs and CSOs also considered different strategies they can adopt to safeguard the long-term mental health of monitors in their teams, including at the different stages of a visit and through debriefings, and access to outside professional care.
In addition to the challenges associated with mental health in places of detention, participants shared success stories and the ways that dialogue on these issues has led to change, including through convening meetings of key stakeholders, engaging regularly with authorities at different levels, and conducting training on related issues.
The Sixth Regional Meeting on Torture Prevention for NPMs and CSOs from the OSCE region, held in Copenhagen from 9-10 November 2023, was jointly hosted by the APT, the OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman and the Council of Europe.
Representatives from more than 30 NPMs in the OSCE region took part in the regional meeting, along with CSO delegates from 12 countries.
Representatives from the NPMs of Chile, Costa Rica and South Africa, who were in Copenhagen for the 14th International Conference of National Human Rights Institutions, also took part in the meeting and added to the diversity of perspectives.
Discussions also drew on the outcomes of an online workshop on mental health in prisons, jointly coordinated by the APT and the Council of Europe in February 2023.
