Detainees diagnosed with serious illnesses could be released from detention if the condition is confirmed by the medical council of the penitentiary hospital. According to a draft law that is under public consultation, the procedure for ascertaining serious diseases will be simplified and speeded up by reducing the number of evaluation commissions from three to one, IPN reports.
Currently, the procedure involves three evaluation commissions: the Medical Advisory Council, the Medical Psychiatric Commission and the Special Medical Commission. The entire examination process takes about six months. After the proposed changes are promoted, there will be only one evaluation body left: the Medical Advisory Council. Its conclusions will be enough to ask the court to release the detainee.
The same draft law updates the List of serious diseases that prevent persons from being in detention, in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), the edition applied in the Republic of Moldova. Thus, the number of detainees who will have the opportunity to undergo complex treatment at home or in a medical institution outside the penitentiary system, when their health condition prevents them from serving their sentence, will increase.
According to the Ministry of Justice, in 2017-2021, the Special Medical Commission established under the National Administration of Penitentiaries examined 50 seriously ill people, of whom 26 died in detention and 24 were set free. In the following years, seriously ill inmates continued to die in prisons before the medical examination procedure was completed.
