BOSTON— Prisons have become the new asylums for the mentally ill, and prison staffs are not prepared to handle those people, family members of prisoners who committed suicide told a legislative panel yesterday.
Nelson Rodriguez, a mentally ill and mentally retarded prisoner from Springfield, hanged himself in the segregation unit in Walpole State Prison in December after telling mental health advocates and guards he needed mental health help. Jason Nelson, who helped to care for Mr. Rodriguez, said he died “either because they were understaffed or no one cared.”
Kathleen M. Dennehy, commissioner of the Department of Correction, told the panel she expects a thorough investigation of Mr. Rodriguez’s death to be completed within weeks, and its results to be made public. She also said a new DOC regulation that became effective a month after his death requires prison superintendents to put in place a process in which they meet every day with a mental health clinician to review all recommended discipline. http://[img]http://adx.telegram....NEWS[/img]
That will give the clinician an opportunity to point out any mental health issues and whether discipline is appropriate, Ms. Dennehy said. She also defended mental health steps already are in place to protect prisoners, but acknowledged training of correction officers can always be improved.
Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services called for a ban on the use of punitive segregation blocks for prisoners with mental illness and mental retardation. It also said residential treatment units have been successful across the country in treating mentally ill prisoners incapable of following rules on their own or getting along with other prisoners.
Executive Director Leslie Walker was critical DOC has only one 56-bed residential treatment unit for only one security level in a prison system with 9,000 men.
Hampden County Sheriff Michael J. Ashe Jr. pleaded with the Legislature to give the correctional system enough resources because it has taken over the task of treating the most mentally ill Americans. Fewer than 55,000 people get treatment in psychiatric hospitals in this country, he said, while 500,000 men and women with mental illnesses are serving time in American jails and prisons.
Ruth B. Balser, House chairman of the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, said Sheriff Ash and others reinforce her belief in the importance of ensuring mental health and substance abuse treatment in the prisons and creating mental health courts to treat people with mental illness in the community where it is far cheaper and more humane.
Sheriff Ashe said the county jails in Massachusetts are releasing 17,000 people with mental health issues to the streets every year.
While Spectrum Health Systems of Worcester provides substance abuse treatment and recidivism reduction programming to 3,000 state prisoners a year, more needs to be done, according to Charles Faris, president and CEO. He said more than 7,500 DOC inmates — which is 85 percent of male inmates and 92 percent of females — have a substance abuse history.
Posted by: PearlOnyx
Many many years ago, the state all but closed the state hospital system, placing many mentally ill people out on the street, and leaving future generations of mentally ill people with few places to go. Those who couldn't or can't make it in society, end up in jail or in prison. Now as a corrections system, "we" are left to struggle with an issue that the state itself created.
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