Psychiatric imprisonment
Psychiatric imprisonment is involuntary imprisonment of people on the grounds that they are considered psychiatrically insane. In many countries, people behaving in such a way considered insane by a local judge can be put into a mental institution without trial. Critics argue that an open society based on freedom and personal responsibility has no room for treatment of this nature.
In some countries, activities such as homosexuality and adultery can result in such imprisonment. In others, such as the defunct USSR, and some claim China, Canada and the USA, amongst others, such hospitals are routinely used to imprison dissidents.
It is part of both the criminal justice and hospital systems in most countries and often has an ambiguous relationship to these.
See also: criminal justice, psychiatry