Regulation on High Security Forensic Psychiatry Centers
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This Turkish regulation, effective from 23 January 2026, establishes detailed standards for High Security Forensic Psychiatry Centers under the Ministry of Health. It defines the physical, personnel, material and operational requirements for specialized facilities that provide inpatient and outpatient forensic psychiatric evaluation, treatment, rehabilitation and reporting services for individuals referred by judicial authorities. The centers serve both adult and child/adolescent patients with strict separation by gender and age group. The regulation explicitly excludes regular prison psychiatric wards (THAP services). Centers must implement maximum physical, procedural and relational security measures including unbreakable glass, fixed rounded furniture, CCTV coverage, panic buttons, secure doors, seclusion and restraint rooms, and perimeter walls at least 5 meters high. Multidisciplinary teams including psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and security staff are mandated with specific staffing ratios such as one psychiatrist per 20 beds and at least 8-10 nurses per 10-11+ bed ward.
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Key Changes
- Requires at least 5-meter-high perimeter walls with anti-climb design and unbreakable glass on all windows with alarm systems
- Mandates minimum staffing: 1 psychiatrist per 20 beds and minimum 8 nurses per 10-bed ward (10 nurses for 11+ beds)
- All patient rooms must be single occupancy with en-suite anti-ligature bathrooms and fixed rounded furniture
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Obligations
What this law requires
High Security Forensic Psychiatry Centers must be licensed in accordance with the Public Health Facilities Licensing Regulation (dated 20/9/2019, Official Gazette No. 30894)
Centers must separate female, male, and child/adolescent patients in separate wards with treatment and monitoring conducted in designated gender and age-specific units
All furniture and equipment in patient areas (ward rooms, social areas, common areas) must be designed with rounded corners, fixed installation, and durable materials to prevent patients from harming themselves or others
Ward room doors must have central locking systems that cannot be opened from inside and must be openable only by staff cards or central command; doors must have unbreakable glass windows allowing observation without violating privacy
Each center must maintain at least one psychiatric close observation room positioned near the nurse station, equipped with camera, patient bed, and central gas system or portable oxygen supply