Enforcement of measures

Wrong treatment: charges filed against port doctor

Mittersteig special institution for mentally abnormal offenders is being targeted.(Bild: Reinhard Holl)

A furor over the detention of mentally ill prisoners - allegations of bodily harm against a doctor. 

"I already had a double murderer who was released from prison earlier!" Renowned lawyer Manfred Arbacher-Stöger is once again taking aim at the prison system, which recently made the headlines due to the horror case of Josef Fritzl, i.e. the detention of criminals who are considered dangerous due to mental illness.

Convicted of assault
The case concerns Mr. B., who had a criminal record at a young age for assault and threatening his girlfriends at the time. He would have served his sentence long ago. Only an (older) expert opinion attested that the now 40-year-old, who at the time was under too much stress as a deputy hotel chef, had an "abnormal personality structure with deficits in self-regulation, particularly due to alcohol abuse".

It seems that prisoners are deliberately sedated in detention centers to keep them quiet and make them compliant.

Top-Anwalt Manfred Arbacher-Stöger übt scharfe Kritik

Hence the committal. A conditional release was then revoked by the judiciary shortly before the end of the probationary period. Mr. B. got drunk again (alone) in the supervised apartment and missed the appointment with the probation officer. In the meantime, the man has been in prison more or less continuously for 14 years, according to his lawyer.

Accusations against the prison doctor
The lawyer is now making serious accusations against the prison doctor treating him: "My client is being wrongly treated with a cocktail of psychotropic drugs for medical conditions that he was never diagnosed with. I have therefore filed a criminal complaint for bodily harm and also informed the Medical Association," says Arbacher-Stöger.

One of the medications Mr. B. received as a "cocktail".(Bild: zVg)

Compensation claim against the Republic 
Mr. B. was sedated and immobilized to such an extent that it was difficult for him to do his job as a cook in a city centre hotel in preparation for his release. Furthermore, the lawyer wants to sue the Republic for 30,000 euros in damages.

A recent report by the Austrian Court of Auditors also finds major shortcomings in the prison system: full prisons, few staff, 23 hours a day locked up in cells ...