Today’s news has been filled with the face of Nicholas Salvador, a 25 year old gentleman who, last year, killed two cats before going on to behead an 82 year old grandmother in her own back garden.
Nicholas Salvador is a paranoid schizophrenic. He has today been found not guilty by reason of insanity and will spend an indefinite amount of time in a secure psychiatric hospital. What is not discussed in the news is how such a verdict works in practice. Well, officially, Nicholas Salvador will be detained under section 37/41 Mental Health Act 1983.
Section 37 is a hospital order and it operates as an alternative to a prison sentence. Section 41 is a restriction order and this is something added by the Crown Court if there are concerns regarding public safety and the patient’s own risk. Prior to someone being admitted to hospital in such circumstances, two medical practitioners must carry out assessments of the person. For a judge to give a restriction order, one of these medical practitioners must speak in court.
It is possible that Mr Salvador will have to spend some time in prison whilst waiting for a bed to become available for him – the procedure is that the Hospital Managers should find a patient a bed within 28 days.
The reason that the newspapers are stating that Mr Salvador will be detained indefinitely is because, since 2007, a section 37/41 does not have a time limit, meaning that it can run for as long as necessary with no need for it to be renewed.
Although unlikely to happen, it would be possible for Mr Salvador to appeal against today’s order of the court to the Court of Appeal, but this would need to be done within the next 28 days.
A section 37/41 is naturally strict – a patient detained on this section cannot leave hospital without the agreement of the Secretary of State for Justice. When the person’s Responsible Clinician (the doctor in charge of their care) thinks that the patient is well enough to be discharged from hospital, he will ask for the Secretary of State’s agreement. The reasons for such strict rules are clear – the person, had they not been suffering from a mental disorder, would have been sent to prison. It is section 41 that places these extra restrictions on the detention. Even if the patient wants leave from hospital, and a request for leave is made by the responsible clinician, the Ministry of Justice must agree to grant that leave, and it may simply be leave to go to the local shop.
Once the hospital order has been in place for six months, the person detained may apply for a Tribunal. With a Tribunal, a successful appeal of a section would mean that the patient can be discharged. Such discharge can be either absolute or conditional. With absolute discharge, the person will be released from detention. It is unlikely that someone who has been subject to a forensic section i.e. a section 37/41, will be granted absolute discharge. Conditional discharge is much more likely as it allows the person to remain subject to the Mental Health Act whilst living within the community. Should any of the conditions specified be broken, the patient can be recalled to hospital by the Secretary of State. As soon as a patient on a section 37/41 is recalled to hospital, there is an automatic tribunal within the first month of discharge. Following this, the section must last for six months before the patient is able to apply to the Tribunal himself.
Alternatively, if the conditional discharge goes well and all conditions are complied with, the patient may wish to apply for absolute discharge, although they do have to wait at least one year. If the application for absolute discharge following one year of conditional discharge is not successful, the person is only able to apply two yearly.
Ta-dah! Hopefully this explains what all of the newspapers are talking about and the process involved when detaining Nicholas Salvador.
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