Report on the visit to the Colibaşi Penitentiary Hospital, Argeş County
On July 15th, 2003, two representatives of APADOR-CH visited the Colibaşi Penitentiary Hospital, in Argeş County.
- General aspects
The Colibaşi Penitentiary Hospital was founded in February 1998 and opened in the summer of the same year. The Hospital was placed on the premises of the Colibaşi Penitentiary, as a distinct, self-administered unit. However, the hospital lacked certain facilities (kitchen, laundry), and therefore had to use the facilities of the penitentiary. The hospital treated patients from 14 prisons and 18 police stations.
The penitentiary was organised into three departments: for TBC, chronic disease and dermato-venereal disease. The hospital was authorized to use 350 beds, of which 250 were installed. At the moment of the visit by APADOR-CH representatives, there were 221 patients in the hospital.
The care unit had 131 employees, of which 13 doctors and 47 nurses. Personnel was insufficient in all categories. The number of positions for doctors, according to the documents, was 22, but the hospital had only managed to hire 13, because it was difficult to find qualified people for the jobs. As for the nurses, although almost all the 48 positions were filled, in reality it would have taken twice as many people to satisfy all the needs of the patients. At the TBC wards, for instance, there were 7-8 staff for the 125 existing beds, of whom only two doctors, while at civilian hospitals there was a doctor for every 25 beds. The management of the hospital estimated that the hospital also required some 40 extra security staff, given the new provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (regarding the security staff that has to escort prisoners to court hearings).
In hospital, handcuffs were used only in exceptional situations, for psychically deranged patients, but never as a disciplinary measure. However, patients who were transferred to the County Hospital in Piteşti were handcuffed to their beds, even if two non-commissioned officers were guarding them permanently. Disciplinary punishments imposed by the management of the hospital were in general limited to reprimands, or, occasionally, to the suspension of the right to parcels or visitation.
Patients treated in the penitentiary hospital had the right to make two phone-calls per month, being allowed to use the pay-phone on Tuesdays and Fridays. For those who could not afford it, the hospital provided 6-7 “social” phone-cards per month.
At the moment of the visit by APADOR-CH representatives,
there were no investment programs running in the hospital. Discussions with
the management revealed that further investments would have to focus on building
new facilities, since the ones in the penitentiary were not covering the needs
of the hospital. The needed buildings included a canteen, a kitchen (the one
in the penitentiary is unable to provide diversified food, according to the
varied needs of the patients), a laundry (for patients with special needs
and TBC patients), a morgue and a crematory.
- The visit to the hospital
2.1. The wards
Ward 114 (chronic diseases) had 5 beds and 4 patients. Detainees said that patients never outnumbered the beds in the ward. The room was tidy, well aired, with a separate bathroom and a food storage closet with wood shelves. The bathroom was in white tiles, in very good condition, and included a toilet seat, a sink and a shower cabin, all of them functioning. In the ward, hot water ran once a week, on Friday afternoons. Patients were taken for a walk every day, for about one hour. They received papers every day and were allowed to make phone calls twice a month. There was no TV set or radio in the room, since the detainees could not afford to bring them from home. Patient Croitoru Ion, who had a 6 weeks beard as a mourning sign, complained that he could not shave because there was no barber in the hospital.
Ward no. 122 (dermato-venereal disease) hosted 5 patients in 6 beds. The room was tidy, well aired, decorated with plants. There too, patients were taken out for a walk every day for one, one and a half hour and allowed to make two phone calls every month. They got the papers daily and watched their own TV. Also, they were provided with personal hygiene items such as BIC razors, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, shaving cream, toilet paper, and shower twice or three times a week. There was one patient with scabies in the room, sent in from Colibaşi Penitentiary. The patients were allowed to receive visitors three times per month, and earn the right to extra visits for good behaviour. They complained that they met their visitors in their pyjamas and risked to fetch germs into the hospital. In wintertime, patients used to put robes over their pyjamas when they went to the visiting room, but the woollen robes were too heavy to be used during the summer. Patients had no complaints about the treatment and said they were given all the medicine they needed.
Ward no. 123 (chronic disease) hosted 5 patients in 5 beds. The patients were satisfied with their food. They got papers every day but they had no TV or radio. They read books brought from home. The daily walk lasted from one to one hour and a half and hot water ran on Fridays.
Doctor Melnicu Liliana, who worked in the chronic disease department, said there were no facilities to run all necessary medical tests in the hospital, complained about an estimated 25% understaffing in the case of nurses and of inappropriate food for diabetes patients. Regarding the latter issue, the management of the hospital had already asked the authorities to level the norms of food and hygiene for penitentiary hospitals with those for civilian hospitals.
2.2 The social-educational department
The department included two officers and a non-commissioned officer, but no technical maintenance officer. This was a problem, especially because it made it difficult to install a loudspeaker system in all wards. The hospital had bought the loudspeakers and the sound system but was unable to use it because there was no technical maintenance staff.
Monthly, the staff edited a magazine featuring information on health education, entertainment pages, legal information (provisions of the Criminal Code and of the European Convention on Human Rights). The magazine was printed in sufficent number of copies to cover all patients detained in the hospital.
- Conclusions
The living conditions in the penitentiary hospital were generally good, and there were no obvious complaints among patients. Besides the good condition of the wards, the absence of overcrowding, the long daily walks and the absence of tough punishments contributed to the state of contentment.
APADOR-CH considers that the use of “social” phone cards was a very positive measure, which did not involve too much spending but helped detainees exercise their right to correspondence efficiently.
The most urgent problem noted by APADOR-CH at the Colibaşi Penitentiary Hospital was the lack of medical staff (doctors and nurses). In that respect, APADOR-CH asks the DGP to give its support so that the management of the hospital fills the needs of the patients (the insufficient staffing of the TBC ward represented the most meaningful issue confronting the hospital). It is also necessary that the food and hygiene norms for sick detainees were reviewed and better adapted to the needs of patients deprived of freedom. The Association also asks the DGP to support the hospital in building its own kitchen (and create a position for a dietitian) and laundry.
Diana Olivia Călinescu Valerian Stan
