[NYAPRS Enews] Oklahoma Launches New Integrated Treatment Discharge Planning Program

[Harvey Rosenthal]

Aid For Mentally Ill Inmates 

Service Planning Program Aims To Keep Them From Returning To Prison 

By ANGEL RIGGS   World Capitol Bureau   1/8/2007 

 

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A statewide effort to curb the increasing number of
mentally ill inmates who end up back in prison is set to launch within a
few weeks. 

 

Through the new Integrated Treatment Discharge Planning program, the
state's prisons agency and Department of Mental Health and Substance
Abuse Services will work together to provide inmates with serious mental
illness a comprehensive plan for release that includes access to support
services and medications. 

 

The Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas will each receive two of the program's
"intensive care coordination teams," which are to begin work around Feb.
1. Lawmakers provided about $97,500 last year for each team. 

 

"This is not a program for giving criminals an easy way out or excusing
their behavior," said Robert Powitzky, the Department of Corrections'
chief mental health officer. 

 

"We know that more and more people with serious mental illness are
finding themselves in jail or prisons, and if we don't implement this
kind of program it's going to cost taxpayers three to four times more
money." 

 

Such offenders are most likely to end up back in prison within 90 days
of their release, he said. 

 

Through the coordination teams, certain inmates near their release date
will work with professionals to develop a discharge plan, which
addresses a variety of common reintegration problems. 

 

For example, offenders with serious mental illness cannot apply for
Social Security benefits until they leave prison. The new plan, however,
will allow them to work with a specialist before their release so those
services will be ready for them. 

 

"For someone discharging who has those benefits, there are a lot more
doors open to them," Powitzky said. 

 

Access to community mental health centers, housing and family services
also will be addressed. 

 

"Housing is the No. 1 huge issue for these individuals; second is
employment," said Randy May, the director of assertive community
treatment for the mental health department. 

 

"When you can't get those two things, what's left for you to do?" 

 

The program will provide discharge planning for mentally ill inmates at
Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester; Joseph Harp Correctional
Center in Lexington; and Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, a prison for
women, in McLoud. 

 

Bob Mann, the Corrections Department's coordinator of clinical social
work services, said the majority of the effort is intended to ensure a
"continuity of mental health care." 

 

It's important that the offenders will be part of the process and "it's
not something that's happening to them,." he said. 

 

The program is expected to begin with about 20 to 30 inmates. 

 

Of 8,000 offenders who were discharged in fiscal year 2006, an estimated
1,000 -- or 12.5 percent -- needed treatment for serious mental
illnesses, Corrections Department data show. 

 

However, fewer than 20 percent of those inmates had any formal discharge
plans other than receiving a two-week supply of their medication. 

 

The number of inmates who need medications for mental illness has surged
in the past decade. 

 

"It's a nationwide phenomenon," Powitzky said. He attributed much of the
problem to the closing of mental health hospitals. 

 

"They've de-institutionalized the mental health hospitals, but they've
re-institutionalized people with serious mental illness into jails and
prisons," Powitzky said. 

 

"Statistics show that once a person with serious mental illness gets
into the criminal justice system, it's very difficult for them not to
cycle in and out," he said. 

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Prisoners and mental health 

A total of 56 percent of state prisoners across the country have a
mental health problem. 

Among those state inmates with mental illnesses, 13 percent said they
were homeless during the year before they were sent to prison. 

An estimated 73 percent of women in state prisons have mental illness,
compared with 55 percent of men. 

 

Source: Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics

 

http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=070108_To_A1_Aidfo18599 

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