Court asks Dutch gov’t to reduce waiting times for court-ordered psychiatric treatment
The Midden Nederland court has asked State Secretary Ingrid Coenradie of Justice and Security to reduce the waiting times for court-ordered psychiatric treatment (TBS) “with the highest priority.” The court made this appeal in a ruling extending the TBS measure against a man still waiting for his treatment.
The man in question was convicted of murder and attempted manslaughter in March 2023 and sentenced to TBS with compulsory treatment. But there is currently no place available at a TBS clinic that specializes in his problems, resulting in the man waiting untreated in prison.
The Midden Nederland court ruled that the man must remain in custody, even though there is no treatment place available. “If the TBS were to be terminated now, the man would be released and that would lead to irresponsible safety risks in society,” the court said in its ruling.
Last week, another court changed the sentence of another convicted person from conditional TBS to TBS with compulsory treatment, NOS reports. If the court hadn’t changed the sentence to TBS with compulsory treatment, the person in question would have been released without having received any treatment. Now they have to stay in prison awaiting space in a suitable TBS clinic.
The court in The Hague is handling a similar case today in which a convicted man sued the State. He was sentenced to prison and TBS with compulsory treatment. He has served his prison sentence but is still stuck in custody awaiting a spot in a TBS clinic. He has been waiting for over two years and will remain in prison until a place becomes available.
It is “important for the effectiveness and credibility of the TBS system that TBS patients are actually treated in a clinic without long waiting times,” the Midden Nederland court said in its ruling. The court added that it is not the judges’ responsibility to solve the waiting times, but the court does feel “responsible to draw attention to this problem.”
According to NOS, 210 people sentenced to TBS are currently waiting for treatment, up from 43 waiting patients in 2018.
