Trappes attack: psychiatric evaluation of suspects in France
Following the lifting of custody on psychiatric grounds for the main suspect in the terrorist attack in the Yvelines, BFM TV explains the French process for urgent psychiatric evaluation.
Urgent psychiatric evaluation: the French legal framework
According to BFM TV, two days after the racist attack in Trappes that killed one person and injured several others, including an 11-year-old child, the release of Kévin T., 39, the main suspect, on psychiatric grounds prompted incomprehension from the lawyer representing the relatives of the victims. The lawyer had said he was "surprised" by this decision, particularly as the suspect's state of health had initially been deemed compatible with custody.
In France, the Public Health Code provides, under certain conditions, for provisional measures of psychiatric care when a person presents an imminent danger to others. These measures are strictly regulated and can be pronounced as early as the detention of a suspect. Karine Jean, a hospital psychiatrist and expert with the Paris Court of Appeal, explains to the channel that "if a detained person does not appear mentally sound," the mayors and the Paris police commissioner can pronounce provisional placement in psychiatric care on the decision of the state representative (SDRE).
The role of the Psychiatric Infirmary of the Police Prefecture
In Paris, it is the Psychiatric Infirmary of the Police Prefecture (I3P) that receives persons subject to these measures. It is the only establishment in France currently authorised to do so. According to the police prefecture, the I3P's mission is "to receive, in extreme urgency and on a temporary basis, persons presenting severe psychiatric disorders associated with immediate danger to themselves or to others, which has justified the intervention of law enforcement and is attested by a psychiatrist."
The objective is to carry out a further evaluation of the psychiatric state, for a maximum period of 48 hours. This referral is itself regulated: the detained person is first taken to the emergency department, generally to the medico-judicial units of the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris. It is there that a psychiatrist conducts an initial interview. If the psychiatrist considers that a more prolonged evaluation is necessary, he or she refers the person to the I3P.
Reception and observation protocol
Upon arrival at the I3P, the person is looked after by a care team present seven days a week. Karine Jean describes the process: "The person is received, an inventory of their belongings is made, they are put into pyjamas and placed in an isolation room to ensure their safety and that of others." An initial interview is arranged upon admission with a duty doctor, present on site 24 hours a day.
The doctor collects psychiatric history, contacting if necessary the emergency services or establishments where the person may have been followed. The family may also be contacted. Following this initial interview, the person is placed in a room with sedative treatment. A further discussion with a healthcare professional and a clinical examination are arranged the next morning.
Possible outcomes
Several conclusions can be drawn from this evaluation. The psychiatrist may conclude that there is a completely normal psychiatric examination, notably in cases where the person presented behavioural disorders linked to substance consumption. After 24 or 48 hours and distance from the substances, the person can return to a normal state. In this case, they leave the service and the mental health action office contacts the police station to determine whether custody resumes.
Conversely, if the person presents real psychiatric disorders — notably because they are known to a Paris psychiatric sector, in breach of treatment or absconded from a hospitalisation measure — a measure of hospitalisation without consent may be pronounced. According to the police prefecture, at the end of the legal observation period of 48 hours, "nearly one patient in two" is hospitalised without consent in a specialised establishment.
An identical process regardless of the nature of the facts
Karine Jean emphasises that the care pathway is the same, regardless of the facts alleged against the person — whether or not they have a terrorist character. This urgent psychiatric evaluation does not prejudge either the criminal responsibility of the person or their discernment at the time of the facts. The lawyer for the relatives of the victim had noted that "these lifting of custody on psychiatric grounds are very rare," emphasising the exceptional nature of this measure in the Trappes case.
Source: BFM TV