In the early days of corrections, the mental health of inmates was ignored. However, today it has become a major issue in American prisons with more and more institutions facing the challenge of mental health head-on rather than sweeping this long-time problem under the rug. Correctional institutions have tried to introduce psychiatric programs with the hope of treating mentally ill offenders and lowering recidivism rates. Prisons now include mental health professionals, who work closely with prison staff with the intent of improving inmate health and behavior, but it is not an easy task as constant financial hurdles put these two goals out of reach. Rehabilitation is still a new concept in the criminal justice system and correctional
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Although inmates are screened for mental illness during booking, research has shown they fail to identify inmates who are mentally ill (Goldberg p.82). Researchers, through funding by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), developed and validated two brief, free mental health screening tools: The Correctional Mental Health Screen (CMHS) and the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS) (p.82). The screens consist of standard one-page questionnaires administered by officers in three to five minutes and score by adding up questions answered “yes”. The CMHS screens can identify nine categories of mental disorder in both male and female inmates (p.82). The BJMHS better identifies male inmates with mental disorders and is being refined to increase its effectiveness in identifying female detainees with anxiety and stress related mental illness (p.82). These newer screening methods have helped correctional staff give more accurate and effective screenings to inmates which allows treatment to begin sooner rather than …show more content…
(2012) conducted a study which compared the Connecticut Offender Reentry Program (CORP) and retrospective data for inmates who received standard treatment planning services from the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addictions Services (DMHAS). The purpose of the study was to see the effectiveness of the Connecticut Offender Reentry Program. The comparative data found that 14.1% of the CORP participants were rearrested within 6 months of discharge compared to 28.3% of the DMHAS group (p.1). Due to a smaller percentage of CORP participants being recidivistic, the data indicated support for specialized treatment programs (p.1). Kesten (2012) later mentions the comparison study shows that prerelease intervention and post release treatment planning services may need to be more specialized or structured in order to reduce recidivism
Although inmates are screened for mental illness during booking, research has shown they fail to identify inmates who are mentally ill (Goldberg p.82). Researchers, through funding by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), developed and validated two brief, free mental health screening tools: The Correctional Mental Health Screen (CMHS) and the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS) (p.82). The screens consist of standard one-page questionnaires administered by officers in three to five minutes and score by adding up questions answered “yes”. The CMHS screens can identify nine categories of mental disorder in both male and female inmates (p.82). The BJMHS better identifies male inmates with mental disorders and is being refined to increase its effectiveness in identifying female detainees with anxiety and stress related mental illness (p.82). These newer screening methods have helped correctional staff give more accurate and effective screenings to inmates which allows treatment to begin sooner rather than …show more content…
(2012) conducted a study which compared the Connecticut Offender Reentry Program (CORP) and retrospective data for inmates who received standard treatment planning services from the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addictions Services (DMHAS). The purpose of the study was to see the effectiveness of the Connecticut Offender Reentry Program. The comparative data found that 14.1% of the CORP participants were rearrested within 6 months of discharge compared to 28.3% of the DMHAS group (p.1). Due to a smaller percentage of CORP participants being recidivistic, the data indicated support for specialized treatment programs (p.1). Kesten (2012) later mentions the comparison study shows that prerelease intervention and post release treatment planning services may need to be more specialized or structured in order to reduce recidivism