Mentally Ill in Corrections - Treatment
Effective Prison Mental Health Services: Guidelines to Expand and Improve Treatment
"[H]istorical , legal, and ethical issues relevant to dealing with mental illness in the field of corrections" are discussed (p. iii). Chapters include: introduction; screening and assessment; mental health and substance abuse treatment; use of seclusion, segregation, and restraints; suicide prevention; treating women offenders; psychopharmacological intervention for psychiatric disorders; transitional services; treatment of special populations (e.g., persons with mental retardation or developmental disability, violent offenders, sex offenders, and older adults); and profiles of three states (Maryland, Oregon, and Texas).
Interventions for Adult Offenders With Serious Mental Illness
This report is a great introduction to strategies for treating offenders with serious mental illness (i.e., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or major depression) in jails, prisons, forensic hospitals, or community reentry programs. The researchers “identified some promising treatments for individuals with serious mental illness during incarceration or during transition from incarceration to community settings. Treatment with antipsychotics other than clozapine appears to improve psychiatric symptoms more than clozapine in an incarceration setting. Two interventions, discharge planning with Medicaid-application assistance...
The Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness in Prisons and Jails: A State Survey
“Prisons and jails have become America’s “new asylums”: The number of individuals with serious mental illness in prisons and jails now exceeds the number in state psychiatric hospitals tenfold. Most of the mentally ill individuals in prisons and jails would have been treated in the state psychiatric hospitals in the years before the deinstitutionalization movement led to the closing of the hospitals, a trend that continues even today.
The treatment of mentally ill individuals in prisons and jails is critical...
TIP 59: Improving Cultural Competence
"The development of culturally responsive clinical skills is vital to the effectiveness of behavioral health services. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), cultural competence “refers to the ability to honor and respect the beliefs, languages, interpersonal styles, and behaviors of individuals and families receiving services, as well as staff members who are providing such services ... This Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) uses Sue’s (2001) multidimensional model for developing cultural competence. Adapted to address cultural competence...
The Processing and Treatment of Mentally Ill Persons in the Criminal Justice System: A Scan of Practice and Background Analysis
This "background analysis examines how individuals with mental illness are processed and treated in the criminal justice system and discusses the implications of insufficient or inadequate care for these individuals. In particular, the main objectives of this paper are to review current practice in the processing of mentally ill offenders, assess societal and economic costs associated with recidivism and insufficient care for this population, and highlight promising strategies to tackle challenges involved in the reintegration of mentally ill offenders into...
Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) Resources
The GAINS Center focuses on expanding access to services for people with mental and/or substance use disorders who come into contact with the justice system.
Critical Connections Getting People Leaving Prison and Jail the Mental Health Care and Substance Use Treatment They Need (2017)
A discussion paper that identifies key questions and issues every policymaker should consider when seeking to help people leaving prison and jail connect to needed mental health and substance use treatment.
All Studies on Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) in Multiple States and in Counties of Different Size Show it Works (2015)
AOT is a court order that requires certain persons with serious mental illness to stay in mandated and monitored treatment as a condition for living in the community. AOT reduces violence, arrest, hospitalization and incarceration of persons with serious mental illness in the 70% range and
thereby saves taxpayers 50% of the cost of care.
Massachusetts Community Justice Workshop Report (2016)
- A brief review of the origins, background and framework of the Massachusetts Community Justice Project and workshop;
- A Sequential Intercept Map as developed by the group during the workshop;
- A summary of the information gathered at the workshop;
- A list of best practices and resources to help the partners in the Lawrence region action plan and achieve their goals
How Many Incarcerated Individuals Received Psychotropic Medication in California Jails: 2012-2017 (2018)
Improving Responses to People Who Have Co-occurring Mental Illnesses and Substance Use Disorders in Jails (2020)
People with co-occurring mental illnesses and substance use disorders—also known simply as co-occurring disorders—have complex needs that require integrated responses across jails and behavioral health systems. However, staff often do not know how many people with co-occurring disorders reside in the jail or do not know how to respond when they recognize the symptoms. This brief outlines how jail administrators and staff can improve their responses to this population by implementing practices that focus on identification and provision of services: conducting standard screening and assessment for both, linking people to services through collaborative comprehensive case management, and assessing effectiveness through...