By Seleoe Nonyane
Patients in the forensic unit of the Mohlomi Mental Hospital face prolonged stay at the institution due to lack of psychiatrists and a technical advisory committee.
Speaking this week at the launch of her office’s recent report, Ombudsman Tlotliso Polaki said the country does not have even a single psychiatrist, making it impossible for forensic patients to be examined.
All the psychiatrists who were working in the country had left for greener pastures abroad, she noted.
Forensic mental health services specialise in the assessment, treatment and risk management of people with a mental disorder who are currently undergoing, or have previously undergone, legal or court proceedings.
Polaki blamed the lengthened stay of the forensic unit patients on the ministry of justice, law, and parliamentary affairs to reconstitute the technical advisory committee which was dissolved in 2016.
She said the numerous human rights concerns at Mohlomi Mental Hospital (forensic unit) that have been highlighted in the investigation by her office arose out of prolonged and systemic neglect of mental health at the level of policy implementation.
The Ombudsmansaysthroughout the investigation, lack of resourcing, improved physical facilities for patients, technical capacity and possibly a lack of concern for the welfare of patients’ mental health issues have arisen as root causes for system-wide failures to protect and promote the rights of‘Mohlomi’s forgotten folk”.
According to the report, Lesotho still needs to make substantial progress on numerous fronts in order for the country to meet its obligations in terms of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
It says the state of mental health services in the criminal justice, forensic unit/correctional facilities is generally poor.
“It has become increasingly clear that there are numerous human rights violations with the incarceration of patients detained at His Majesty’s mercy. There are a lot more challenges identified at the Mohlomi facility that relate to these patients and that also relate to the criminal justice system.
“Elongated patients’ detention under His Majesty’s pleasure amounts to an inhumane treatment and an infringement of their rights under section 8 of the Constitution.
“Patients’ continued and indefinite incarceration leads to the deterioration of their mentality and they are in a state where they actually retreat back into a dreadful state and darkness of insanity,” the Ombudsman said.
She pointed out that this amounts to inhumane treatment, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and international treaties to which Lesotho is a signatory.
Polaki advised that this situation should not be allowed to perpetuate any further in a democratic state.
Patients who are deemed eligible for the King’s pardon should be released from the hospital conditionally or unconditionally by reason of their stabilised mental condition, she noted.
The report also touched on other correctional facilities, indicating that overcrowding seems to be common at quite a number of centres.
The inspection highlighted an increased population of inmates which points to instances of delayed justice in relation to detainees awaiting trial and those that are serving their sentences.
“It was revealed with concern, that 50 percent of the facilities were faced with overcrowding, and in most cells, there was more than twice the capacity of inmates.
“There is an urgent need to address among other things, decongestion of the facilities which are faced with overcrowding with the exception of Mohale’s Hoek, Mokhotlong and Leribe,” Polaki indicated.
The population at Maseru Correctional Facility was 615 while the capacity of inmates to be accommodated is 500 inmates.
According to the report, the standard cell has capacity to house 10 inmates in Maseru. However, it accommodates, on average, 15 inmates.
“We also established and identified the Mohlomi Forensic Unit and Berea correctional facility as typical examples of facilities that exceed capacity by over 100 percent,” she added.
The accuracy of the reports was confirmed by the minister of health, Selibe Mochoboroane, who indicated that there is congestion in the forensic unit as some patients from Mohale’s Hoek were transferred to there.
Mochoboroane said he knows of two patients who have been at the facility for more than 30 years as inmates.
The minister indicated that there are four patients who are over 70 years of age, one of whom is even turning blind while at the facility.
“We need to prepare for these patients’ release and talk to His Majesty King Letsie III so that he can release some part of the patients in the forensic unit.
“I do not think some of them will be able to cause any harm when they get back to their communities,” he said.
