Torture and ill-treatment banned under international law still evident in Czech Republic psychiatric hospitals

Despite international outcry ten years ago, people are still caged and strapped in psychiatric hospitals throughout the Czech Republic. Later today, MDAC launches a damning report calling for urgent action to stop these barbaric practices, in conjunction with our Czech partners the League of Human Rights.

• Read 'Cage beds and coercion in Czech psychiatric instititions' in English here, and in Czech here.
• Twitter updates: #EndCageBeds.
• Petition to the Czech Prime Minister here: endcagebeds.org.
• 29.06.2014: The UK Sunday Times has extensive coverage.

Ten years ago MDAC exposed the horror that people were being kept in cages in Czech psychiatric institutions: the issue gained international attention, including the intervention of author JK Rowling.

MDAC recently returned to the Czech Republic to see what has changed. The answer? Very little. Metal cages have been substituted by netted cages. Hospitals that have withdrawn cages use leather straps to restrain patients instead. Chemical sedation and solitary confinement are widespread. Children are subject to seven-point restraints attached to both arms, legs, shoulders and the child’s torso.

“People with mental health issues deserve support and care, not abuse and punishment,” said Oliver Lewis, MDAC Executive Director. “Substituting cages with other coercive practices is both unacceptable and unnecessary: the Czech authorities should ban these specific forms of coercion and bring its mental health system into the modern era.”

MDAC human rights defenders gained access to eight large hospitals. They found that cage beds were often used to manage elderly patients because of a lack of staff, and to punish ‘bad’ behavior. Patients were put into cages, a nurse said, when they “get naughty, break stuff, make stuff dirty.” MDAC found widespread support for cages among mental health staff and little willingness to change, making legal action imperative.

A victim of cage beds told MDAC:

“It is a feeling like you were closed as if you were an animal. As if you weren’t a human. They treat you as someone even lower than an animal.”

Dr. Pétur Hauksson, psychiatrist and former First Vice President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, led MDAC’s monitoring mission to the Czech Republic. He said:

“Ill-treatment is a persistent beast. Cage beds are a degrading experience for the user, and considered ill-treatment by many observers. The only way is a total prohibition of specific forms of coercion.”

Juan E. Méndez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, has said:

“There can be no therapeutic justification for the use of solitary confinement and prolonged restraint of persons with disabilities in psychiatric institutions.”

For further information, contact Steven Allen, MDAC Advocacy and Communications Director, steven@mdac.org.

NOTES:

• For media interviews: In London: Oliver Lewis, MDAC Executive Director, oliver@mdac.org; In Budapest and Prague: Steven Allen, MDAC Advocacy and Communications Director, steven@mdac.org; In Prague and Brno: Zuzana Durajova, Liga Human Rights Leader, zdurajova@llp.cz.
   
• For copies of the report, “Cage beds and coercion in Czech psychiatric institutions”, contact Steven Allen, MDAC Advocacy and Communications Director, steven@mdac.org.
   
• The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) is an international human rights organisation that uses the law to secure inclusion, justice and equality for people with intellectual disabilities and people with mental health issues worldwide. Website: www.mdac.org. Twitter: @MDACintl. FB: mentaldisabilityadvocacy.
   
• The monitoring was conducted with Czech NGO the League of Human Rights (Liga). Liga is a nonprofit organisation working to defend human rights and freedom, promoting systemic changes that improve the quality of life for all in the Czech Republic. Website: www.llp.cz. Twitter: @LLPCzech. FB: liga.lidskych.prav.
   
• Images of cage beds taken by MDAC are available on request.
   
• The report will be launched on Monday 30 June 2104 at an event from 14:00 CET to 16:30 CET at Europe House, Jungmannova 24, 110 00, Prague 1. A press conference will take place at 16.30pm CET.
   
• Findings from the report will be presented to an invitation-only event in central London on Tuesday 1 July 2014 at 18:00 BST. For an invitation email steven@mdac.org.
   
• Placing people in cages or straps, along with other forms of coercion, can amount to torture or ill-treatment banned under international and European law binding on the Czech Republic. This position is supported by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Mr. Juan E. Mendez, and was confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Bureš v. Czech Republic, litigated by MDAC. In that case, European Court found the Czech Republic responsible for inhuman and degrading treatment due to the use of physical restraints.
   
• The research and report was funded by the Open Society Foundations.
   
• To read MDAC's 2003 Cage Bed Report (in English) click here.