Niuvanniemi hospital is a state psychiatric hospital in the Niuva district of Kuopio, Finland. Along with the other state mental hospital, Vanha Vaasa hospital, it provides forensic psychiatric services for the entire country. Niuvanniemi is the main location for secure housing and involuntary commitment of criminal patients, i.e. individuals that a court has found criminally insane, the hospital also receiving difficult-to-treat or dangerous mental health patients from the other Finnish hospitals. Niuvanniemi hospital is active in forensic psychiatry research, functioning as the Department of Forensic Psychiatry of University of Eastern Finland.

Niuvanniemi hospital
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Administration building of the mental hospital
Map
Geography
LocationNiuva, Kuopio, Finland
Organisation
TypeSpecialist
Services
Beds260
SpecialityPsychiatric
History
Opened1885
Links
ListsHospitals in Finland

Niuvanniemi hospital was founded in 1885 and is the oldest psychiatric hospital still in operation in Finland. Niuvanniemi hospital conducts about half of the court-ordered psychiatric assessments. Niuvanniemi has 260 beds for patients, of which 12 are for minors. In 2010, 51% of patients were patients whose sentence for a serious crime has been waived due to insanity; they are committed for 8 years and 8 months on average.[1] Other difficult-to-treat patients, transferred from other hospitals, are committed at least 3–4 years, on average 5 years and 3 months.[2][3] Niuvanniemi is not a correctional institution, i.e. even the criminal patients are mental health patients, not convicts, thus there are no set time limits for detention. On the other hand, the Finnish prisoners with psychiatric problems in turn are being treated in The Psychiatric Hospital for Prisoners in Turku and Vantaa, respectively, in Finland.[4]

Notable patients

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References

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  1. ^ "Niuvanniemi hospital". Niuva.fi. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Niuvanniemi tekee puolet Suomen mielentilatutkimuksista - HS.fi - Kotimaa". Archived from the original on 2013-10-02. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  3. ^ "Niuvanniemi hospital". Niuva.fi. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  4. ^ The Health Care Services for Prisoners (27 August 2024). "Psychiatric Hospital for Prisoners".
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62°54′54″N 27°37′25″E / 62.91500°N 27.62361°E / 62.91500; 27.62361