A day in the life of an adolescent offender inside a high-security forensic psychiatric hospital might not be what you expect. At the end of the day “they’re still kids,” said forensic psychiatrist John Kasinathan.
High-secure hospitals are for offenders with high-level mental health disorders that can’t be treated in regular correctional centres.
Forensic psychiatrist John Kasinathan speaks about what it’s like inside adolescent high-secure hospitals on the Crime Insiders podcast:
Kasinathan has worked inside these units to treat adolescents, aged between 14 and 20.
“A day in the life would be like – the nurses have to get them all up. Then they have breakfast, and then they usually have a morning group that runs with our therapists there,” Kasinathan said.
Groups cover cognitive behavioural workshops, education programs, social skills training. There’s also recreational time, including exercise and listening to music.
One day, Kasinathan decided to start a reading group. “One of the earliest memories that we might have as a kid is being read to,” he said.
“These are kids that, some of them have murdered. Some of them have got really serious mental illness, and some of them have come from incredibly abusive backgrounds. But they all sat and listened to me read a book,” he said.
“In adolescent forensics, you treat people that have experienced horrendous things in their life or done horrendous things. At the end of the day, they’re still human and they’re still kids.”
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