NCJ Number
172980
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 61 Issue: 3 Dated: September 1997 Pages: 40-45
Date Published
1997
Length
6 pages
Annotation
A mobile consultation program has been implemented as part of a mental health collaboration between the University of Washington and the Washington Department of Corrections that focuses primarily on the management of mentally ill offenders.
Abstract
Rising numbers of offenders with serious mental illnesses have placed increasing pressure on correctional systems because such offenders have special medical needs and experience difficulties adjusting to the prison environment. These difficulties include disruptiveness, unpredictability, inability to follow orders, and the likelihood of being ostracized or victimized by fellow inmates. Analysis of the development and implementation of the mobile consultation program for mentally ill offenders in Washington shows consultation procedures were feasible and manageable at low cost to the institutions involved. Successful cases demonstrated the program accomplished its objectives of affecting inmate behavior, resolving disputes, and unfreezing management impasses. At the same time, the program provided an encouraging model of teamwork among mental health, custody, and administrative professionals. For many intervention subjects, however, mobile consultation did not produce long-term solutions. In most of these cases, the team and the institution failed to provide an adequate forum at the end of the intervention in which all concerned parties were represented. In addition, the program was not effectively promoted. Recommendations to improve future mobile consultation efforts are offered. 3 references and 1 note