French forensic mental health system during the COVID-19 pandemic

Thomas Fovet,Florence Thibaut,Pierre Thomas,Camille Lancelevée

doi:10.1016/j.fsiml.2020.100034

Abstract

Many facilities involved in caring people diagnosed with mental health disorders who committed crime had to adapt to COVID-19 pandemic in France. Particularly, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on incarcerated people was the subject of many concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic also posed major challenges in secure psychiatric hospitals and for psychiatrist experts. Rapid changes in working practices occurred. Finally, the lockdown period was associated with an increase in domestic violence, especially gender-based violence and child abuse and neglect. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the well-known limitations of the French mental health system to manage people diagnosed with mental health disorders who committed crime and the urgent need for better recognition of forensic psychiatry in France.

Highlights

A major reorganization of the mental health system took place all over the world as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020)
On March 16, 2020, the French government imposed a national lockdown which was immediately associated with specific measures for jails and prisons
All of these changes had three main objectives: (i) to prevent an infection's spread, (ii) to ensure continuity of treatment for the many French prisoners suffering from mental disorders (Fovet et al, 2020c), (iii) to support incarcerated persons in the particular context of COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Introduction

A major reorganization of the mental health system took place all over the world as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020). First and foremost, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on incarcerated people was the subject of many concerns because of the high prevalence of medical conditions in correctional facilities (Bhugra, 2020; Liebrenz et al, 2020). On March 16, 2020, the French government imposed a national lockdown which was immediately associated with specific measures for jails and prisons.

Results

Conclusion