Specially adapted hospital units : Prospects and concerns with regard to a new psychiatric institution in the French prison landscape
Adopted in 2002 by the French legislature as a solution to the failures in the delivery of psychiatric care to prisoners, the specially adapted hospital units (UHSA) constitute a criticized breakdown in our medical culture. Ten years after the promulgation of the law, only three of the first nine provided units were able to open. Because of their cost, their national deployment could remain limited, raising fears that inequalities in access to care will persist. We propose here a first report of this project which, while representing a real sanitary improvement, makes dread a change of societal perspective on mental illness and calls for a profound reform of our mental health policy.