[Clinical characteristics among forensic inpatients: A special case, the establishment of social defense "Les Marronniers" in Tournai (Belgium)].

BACKGROUND

In Belgium, the law of "social defense" stipulates that an accused "which is either in a state of dementia or in a serious state of mental disturbance or mental deficiency, incapable of controlling his actions" can be interned. The establishment of social defense (ESD) in Tournai (Belgium) hosts 350 inmates.

OBJECTIVES

In collaboration with the Centre for research in social defense, we organized a systematic assessment of patients interned in ESD. This is the first study evaluating prospectively this population.

METHODS

Of the total, 229 patients signed informed consent. Different scales of assessment (MINI, WAIS-III, SCID II) were used. Descriptive analyzes were applied (SPSS version 12).

RESULTS

We show that 48.8 % of our participants had committed a sexual offense (rape or attempted rape, indecent assault, public outrage or mixed). The average intelligence quotient is 71.4. According to the MINI, 33.2 % of participants showed no psychiatric disorder. Among psychiatric disorders, psychotic disorders are the most represented (37.4 %). According to the SCID, personality disorders were absent in 26.8 % of our participants. Most of the axis II disorders are represented personality disorders related to cluster B (57.3 %) mainly with antisocial personality disorder (37.9 %).

CONCLUSION

These data demonstrate the significant heterogeneity of our sample and the need for the establishment of specific care routes to each subpopulation.