Michael L.

Turner
June 20th, 2016

CCJS 497 Correctional Administration

Project 2: Case Study on Best Practices in Corrections

Correctional Mental Health

Michael L. Turner
June 20th, 2016

CCJS 497 Correctional Administration

Project 2: Case Study on Best Practices in Corrections

For over 50 years Americans has gone from institutionalizing people with mental illnesses, often
in subhuman conditions, to incarcerating them at unprecedented and terrible ratesputting
recovery out of reach for millions of Americans. On average, there is somewhere between
300,000 and 400,000 people with mental illnesses are incarcerated in jails and prisons across the
United States, and more than 500,000 people with mental illnesses are under correctional control
in the community. Mental Health America (MHA) heavily supports effective, accessible mental
health treatment for all people who need it who are confined in adult or juvenile correctional
facilities or under correctional control. People with mental health and substance use conditions
also need an effective classification system to protect vulnerable prisoners and preserve their
human rights. Notwithstanding their loss of their liberty, prisoners with mental health and
substance use conditions retain all other rights, and these must be zealously defended. In the past
decade, America has been locking up increasing numbers of individuals with mental health
conditions. MHA is both concerned by and opposed to the increasing use of criminal sanctions
and incarceration, replacing the state mental hospitals with much more drastic curtailment of
personal liberty and preclusion of community integration and community-based treatment.
Prisoners with mental health conditions are especially vulnerable to the difficult and sometimes
deplorable conditions that prevail in jails, prisons, and other correctional facilities. Overcrowding
often contributes to inadequacy of mental health services and to ineffective classification and
separation of prisoner classes. It can both increase vulnerability and exacerbate mental illnesses.
For these and other reasons, MHA supports maximum reasonable diversion. Placing prisoners
with mental health conditions in institutions, especially correctional facilities, imposes special
obligations on society. All jails, prisons and other correctional facilities have a duty to provide
medical services, including mental health services, and to provide protection from harm. These

Michael L. Turner
June 20th, 2016

CCJS 497 Correctional Administration

Project 2: Case Study on Best Practices in Corrections

services are basic human rights of every prisoner with a mental illness or an addictive disorder.
Correctional facilities must exercise special vigilance in dealing with every prisoner with a
mental illness or addictive disorder because his or her ability to assert these human rights may be
impaired. MHA believes that correctional facilities should provide more than the minimum
services that could be compelled as a matter of American constitutional law.

Prisoners with need of mental health treatment are entitled to being screened by trained and
qualified personnel for substance abuse problems. If the screening reveals possible mental health,
they should be referred for further evaluations. They should be given consent to treatment. They
should be given the right to the least restrictive environment and the least intrusive response to
an apparent need for mental health services. Prisoners who suffer from acute mental disorders or
who are actively suicidal should be placed in or transferred to appropriate medical or mental
health units or facilities and returned to general population only with medical clearance.
Facilities should have a suicide prevention plan that includes appropriate admission screening,
staff training and certification, assessment by qualified mental health professionals, adequate
monitoring, referral to appropriate mental health providers or facilities, and procedures for
notification of the prisoners family (unless refused). The high numbers of people with serious
mental health problems entering prison present significant challenges. Adults with mental illness
often enter prison with histories of chronic health problems, unemployment, homelessness,
transient behavior, financial instability, and high-risk behaviors. Normally, they dont have health
coverage, and they lack the supportive, positive, and enduring relationships that contribute to
emotional health and stability. While incarcerated, inmates with mental illness often need

Michael L. Turner
June 20th, 2016

CCJS 497 Correctional Administration

Project 2: Case Study on Best Practices in Corrections

housing and services different from those offered to other inmates. They may need extra medical
attention, treatment, medication, security, suicide precautions, special programming,
rehabilitative services, case management, or transition services. Due to their illness, they may
need to be housed in units with higher staffing ratios. Many prison officials find themselves
balancing the needs of inmates against the costs of the special services. In some states and
jurisdictions, inmates with mental illness are excluded from super max facilities; in others, they
are not. Some super max facilities have designated segregated units to house offenders with
mental illness, while others provide mental health services within the main facility.

Michael L. Turner
June 20th, 2016

CCJS 497 Correctional Administration

Project 2: Case Study on Best Practices in Corrections

Reference(s):
Effiective Prison: Mental Health Services. Retrieved June 19, 2016
NICIC.gov: Mentally Ill Persons in Corrections. (n.d.). Retrieved June 20, 2016, from
http://nicic.gov/mentalillness

Michael L. Turner
June 20th, 2016

CCJS 497 Correctional Administration

Project 2: Case Study on Best Practices in Corrections

Position Statement 56: Mental Health Treatment in Correctional Facilities. (n.d.). Retrieved June
20, 2016, from http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/positions/correctional-facilitytreatment
National Institute of Corrections (1999). Supermax Prisons: Overview and General
Considerations. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.