The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

10 years of women's forensics: "This is not a prison"

2021-10-22T07:04:49.198Z


At first there was resistance from Taufkirchen, today psychiatry and the community work hand in hand: women's forensics have existed for ten years. Two pioneers remember.


At first there was resistance from Taufkirchen, today psychiatry and the community work hand in hand: women's forensics have existed for ten years.

Two pioneers remember.

Taufkirchen

- No one has shaped the development of the Isar-Amper-Klinikum Taufkirchen as strongly as Professor Matthias Dose.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the hospital, the former head of the clinic and former mayor Franz Hofstetter remembered the new building for the forensics in the Vilsgemeinde ten years ago - initially a highly controversial project.

"To have an institution like the kbo in the community - that's a huge pound," says Taufkirchen's former mayor.

With over 800 employees and numerous training positions, the Isar-Amper-Klinikum has become the community's job engine over the past few decades.

The acceptance from the population was not always so great.

In 1993, when Matthias Dose became medical director of what was then the district hospital, barriers barred the area.

"No Taufkirchener got lost in the castle garden," recalls Dose.

The stigmatization was great.

"Part of my conception of psychiatry, however, was to reduce the amount of closed accommodation and wards to a minimum and to make the clinic transparent and transparent from the outside."

A path that the psychiatrist and the politician took.

"When Hofstetter took office in 1996, the collaboration intensified, and the psychiatric facility increasingly became part of the community," says Dose.

"The moated castle and the spacious area around the psychiatry gradually became accessible to the community members," added Hofstetter.

With the deportation of long-term patients from hospital, there was now free capacity in the facility.

And because forensics were bursting at the seams, in 1998 the Upper Bavaria district proposed installing a women's forensics with initially 36 beds on the clinic premises, in which women with mental illnesses who had committed offenses should be treated.

The department grew rapidly. There were already 62 patients in 2002 and 104 in 2004. When the demand for a new building to avoid overcrowding, the problems really started. "Then you also have to create 30 treatment places for male offenders," said Hofstetter, who was responsible for the Ministry of Social Affairs. "Now it was said in the room that convicted sex offenders also come to the community."

An outcry went through the place. That was also unthinkable for the local council at the time. In addition, a citizens' initiative collected more than 2000 signatures against opening up forensics to men. The psychiatrist openly and honestly tried to convince the many opponents of the necessity of the facility. Since he lived in Taufkirchen himself, his own children grew up in the community. "I also saw no danger for the Taufkirchener." This chalice passed the residents. Because more and more mentally ill female criminals were being transferred to Taufkirchen, the number of occupants was finally sufficient to decide in 2007 to build a new building with five forensic stations only for women. Concerns that these could also endanger the population, the clinic director tried to calm down at the time:“The violent crimes committed by women are usually acts of relationships in the near social field. Outsiders are usually not affected. "

There are security gates and cameras in the red and white building at the far end of the clinic park, which has been home to forensics since 2011. Today there is a forensics advisory board with representatives from the clinic and community, in which opponents of the clinic are still involved.

There are currently 178 delinquent women between the ages of 18 and 80 living in forensics.

“It's not a prison,” said Dose, “it's about therapy.” On average, the mentally ill women stayed in the clinic for six years, the addicts two years.

The women are prepared for life in society again in various stages of relaxation.

“Many of the patients work in cafes or in shops in the district, others are finishing school in Taufkirchen.

And some former patients remain in Taufkirchen even after their discharge. "

BY MICHAELE HESKE

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-10-22

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-14T17:41:02.716Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z
News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.