Sasko and Susko Open New Detention Facility for 75 Patients in Kremnica

Kremnica/Bratislava, 22 October (TASR) – A new unit of the Hronovce Detention Institute was officially opened in Kremnica on Wednesday (21 October), with the facility to provide psychiatric care for convicted offenders, Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) and Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD) announced at a press conference in Kremnica. The facility has a capacity of 75 beds and will employ more than 160 people. The first patients are expected to be admitted by the end of the year. The state built the detention institute's unit in Kremnica using European funding, at a cost of more than €30 million. The facility will operate under the Hronovce Detention Institute, which opened in late 2022 and is currently almost 80-percent full. The Kremnica unit will provide space for an additional 75 patients, including women and juveniles. A detention institute is a healthcare facility providing continuous specialised medical and psychiatric care. Patients are admitted on the basis of a court order. "These are people who have committed serious criminal offences but who also pose a danger to those around them because of a mental disorder. For a long time, we essentially had only two options: prison, where such individuals did not receive the treatment they needed, or a standard psychiatric hospital, which is not designed to adequately protect other patients and the public from them," Susko said. At full capacity, 75 members of the Prison and Judicial Guard Corps will supervise patients at the Kremnica unit. A further approximately 90 employees will make up the medical and support staff. Unlike the facility in Hronovce, the Kremnica unit will also treat women and juveniles. "There are more therapy rooms, allowing patients to undergo treatment separately, of course in accordance with specific plans, organisational procedures and all applicable rules," Sasko said. mf