The Swiss penal code provides quite a sophisticated system of rules concerning the assessment and management of mentally ill offenders--there is, however, a substantial lack of treatment places. This means a challenge for hospitals of general psychiatry if these patients should not be referred to common law prisons. We report of a young man who killed another patient on the day of his referral to a psychiatric clinic. The treatment and his rehabilitation was performed successfully in a clinic of general psychiatry--in spite of the scepticism of the legal authorities.