PHILIPSBURG:--- Ms. Karina Dijkhuis Walls of the Public Prosecutors office and Janice Sint Jago of the Corrections Institute in Aruba recently visited the Mental Health Foundation on the July 25th to discuss forensic patients’ policy for the Dutch Caribbean . Ms. Walls is part of an inter-country task force that will prepare a business case for the further decision-making by the Ministers of Justice (and Security) of the Netherlands, Curacao, St. Maarten and Aruba on the realization of a fully-fledged forensic care facility for the accommodation and treatment of prisoners with severe psychological and psychiatric (mental health) problems. This specifically concerns (former) adult prisoners who require forensic (clinical) care (youth is excluded from the investigation).
Ms. Walls stated, “An interview with the Mental Health Foundation is of great importance for the research, especially because the task force focuses not only on mentally ill detainees, but also on former mentally ill prisoners, who are still in need of psychiatric care.”
“In the business case, the current situation (in particular the bottlenecks) and the desired situation in the countries Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten will be described. The task force needs input from the field for identifying the current bottlenecks, as well as for describing the desired situation. After all, it is important that the end product is widely supported. The ultimate aim is for the business case to be delivered in October/November, so that it can be presented to the Ministers during the JVO of January 2019.”
Mental Health Foundation Interim Director Ms. Eileen Healy welcomed Ms. Walls and the opportunity for the foundation as MHF continuously strives to provide the best psychiatric care on St. Maarten.
http://www.smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/29745-prosecutor-s-office-visited-mental-health.html
