NCJ Number
97745
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: (1985) Pages: 43-62
Date Published
1985
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the psychiatric services provided in the forensic unit of Calgary General Hospital (Alberta) from April 1978 through December 1982.
Abstract
The use of the special unit in a civilian hospital started in 1977. It rested on the view that this model offers high clinical quality, avoids potential abuses of psychiatry, and protects the clinical integrity and independence of the clinical personnel. The staff of the unit is completely independent from the prison authority and can operate within the hospital or in the prisons as appropriate. Ths hospital is used for acute management of problems; as soon as possible, inmates are transferred back to the prison where the prison nursing service and the psychiatrist from Forensic Services continue case management. During the study period a total of 101 admissions, which included assessment and treatment cases, were taken into the forensic unit. The patients were all males; were mostly white; and were mostly single, unskilled or semiskilled, and uneducated. Most had committed property offenses. Admissions from prisons dropped over the last 2 years of the study, largely because of inservice training of the prison nursing service and the development of a special care unit in the main correctional facility. Most inmates were returned to prison. The average length of stay dropped in the study's last 2 years. The program has functioned smoothly because of the prison's nursing service, the sensitization of prison staff, the appropriate use of outside consulting staff, the availability of hospitalization, and open communication among all involved. Seven references and figures are included.