Final report prepared for the National Institute of Corrections February 15, 2011 Submitted by Dr. Gaylene Armstrong College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University Research Director, Correctional Management Institute of Texas with Doug Dretke Executive Director, Correctional Management Institute of Texas Cassandra Atkin Research Assistant, Correctional Management Institute of Texas

This resource document discusses the use of seclusion or restraint for purposes of mental health intervention in correctional facilities. Correctional mental health standards essentially state that seclusion or restraint, when used for health care purposes, should be implemented in a manner consistent with current community practice. The community practice was significantly impacted and revised...

The major current issues facing state and local forensic mental health programs are presented in this paper. Debates over forensic patients' rights and the insanity defense are discussed, together with many administrative problems such as the pros and cons of correctional versus mental health system program control and payment incentives for treatment. The authors cite the differing goals of co...

Class action litigation has been instrumental in jail and prison reform during the past two decades. Correctional mental health systems have significantly benefited from such litigation. Forensic psychiatrists have been crucial in the litigation process and the subsequent evolution of correctional mental health care systems. This article summarizes information concerning basic demographics of c...

This review examined the interactions between the correctional system and the health of urban populations. Cities have more poor people, more people of color, and higher crime rates than suburban and rural areas; thus, urban populations are overrepresented in the nation’s jails and prisons. As a result, US incarceration policies and programs have a disproportionate impact on urban communities, ...

OBJECTIVE It is unclear if telepsychiatry, a subset of telemedicine, increases access to mental health care for inmates in correctional facilities or decreases costs for clinicians or facility administrators. The purpose of this investigation was to determine how utilization of telepsychiatry affected access to care and costs of providing mental health care in correctional facilities. METHODS...

OBJECTIVES Although the hepatitis C epidemic in the United States disproportionately affects correctional populations, the last national estimates of seroprevalence and disease burden among these populations are more than a decade old. We investigated routine hepatitis C surveillance conducted in state prison systems and updated previous estimates. METHODS We surveyed all U.S. state correctio...

This paper alerts practitioners and administrators in correctional healthcare settings to a variety of issues of concern when advising or negotiating with state or county governments on the provision of managed behavioral healthcare. The participation of the mental health practitioner or administrator involved in determining the quality and appropriateness of behavioral managed care contractual...

1 Corrections Management Quarterly, 2001, 5(1), 1–9 © 2001 Aspen Publishers, Inc. A persistently disruptive force in correctional facilities is prison gangs. Prison gangs disrupt correctional programming, threaten the safety of inmates and staff, and erode institutional quality of life. The authors review the history of, and correctional mechanisms to cope with prison gangs. A suppression strat...

Retention of nursing staff is more complex in a correctional facility. After a period of 3 years, only 20% of the staff remained employed at this study facility. Without retention of qualified correctional nurses, there are decreases in access to care, gaps in continuity of care, and less time for mentorship. Trained correctional nurses improve patient and staff safety, provide more education, ...