Introduction: Issue, Policy,
Problem:
“
At any given time in many states, one in six ( a rate three time higher than
the general population) inmates are suffering from a serious mental disorder
such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression”
In
2008 a state prison warehouse that Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter wanted to
turn into a 300-bed facility to house people the state deems too dangerous to themselves
failed to come to fruition. Instead this warehouse was turned into a facility
called Correctional Industries, a self-sustained shop that trains offenders in
medium and lower level custody the ability to learn a marketable trade.
Correctional Industries employs staffers to teach skills like carpentry, metal
working and print services. The items that are built here are sold to the private
sector for profit and the money generated is used to fund the program. While a
very innovative way to generate money using the prison population, it still
does not address the growing population of inmates who need psychiatric help.
Instead of a dedicated facility, inmates with mental illnesses are housed in
administrative segregation at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. If they
are violent or have violent tendencies they are placed in individual cells and
are allowed out only one hour a day in segregated recreational yards that are
10’ by 10’ chain linked “cells”. It is important for Idaho to embrace a
methodology of recovery and fund the building of a mental health facility that
is staffed by those trained to deal with serious mental illness. Not to simply
lock them away in a cell and hope that by medicating them they will simply be
“out of sight, out of mind”. In this
analysis the scope of the issue will be identified as well as the impact this
topic has on our community and state. It will also address several methods that
can be implemented to provide a continued quality of life for those diagnosed
with mental illness as well as move the care of mentally ill people from the
hands of the Idaho Department of Corrections to the hands of trained professionals.
History and Scope of Issue:
When
the government began closing state-run hospitals in the 1980s, people with
mental illness had nowhere to turn; many ended up in jail. With the lack space
in hospitals the county jails and state prisons had no other choice but to
become the default treatment center. But this is not a new issue, in 1841, Dorothea Dix brought to the Massachusetts Legislature attention that the sick and insane were "confined in this Commonwealth in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, beaten with rods, lashed into obedience." After touring prisons, workhouses, almshouses, and private homes to gather evidence of appalling abuses, she made her case for state-supported care. Ultimately, she not only helped establish five hospitals in America, but also went to Europe where she successfully pleaded for human rights to Queen Victoria and the Pope.
In 1841 Dr. John Galt took over the superintendence of the Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Virginia, the first publicly supported mental state hospital. It was a triumph for the time because it was the first publicly supported hospital dedicated to the sole treatment of the mentally ill. Dr. Galt, a pioneer in his time in the treatment and the rehabilitation of those suffering from psychological disorders introduced Moral Management Therapy This taught, as Dr. Galt said, that the mentally ill "differ from us in degree, but not in kind" and are entitled to human dignity. Dr. Galt introduced therapeutic activities and talk therapy. He was probably alone among contemporary asylum superintendents to advocate that the psychiatric hospital undertake in-house research and claimed to treat African-American patients on an equal footing with whites. Dr. Galt used restraint very sparingly (one year restraining none) and sought a calming medication to replace restraint. He dispensed opium liberally to patients in a foreshadowing of our twentieth century neuroleptics. In 1857, Dr. Galt was the first to advocate deinstitutionalization and community-based mental health care. Dr. Galt and Eastern State Hospital introduced all the components of the modern psychiatric hospital -human dignity for the mentally ill, therapeutic activities, talk therapy, calming medication, in-house research, deinstitutionalization, and community-based mental health care.
With these great advances in the care of those with mental illnesses seen almost 141 years ago, the United States and Idaho have regressed greatly due to simply put money. In the 1970 and 1980’s Ronald Reagan was governor of California he systematically began closing down mental hospitals, later as president he would cut aid for federally-funded community mental health programs. It is not a coincidence that the homeless populations in the state of California grew in the seventies and eighties. The people were put out on the street when mental hospitals started to close all over the state.
Perspectives & Analysis of Policy:
Idaho currently has two psychiatric hospitals State Hospital South in Blackfoot which provides inpatient treatment for adults and children. The hospital works in partnership with families and communities to enable clients to return to community living. The second state hospital is State Hospital North located in Orofino which is a 55-bed psychiatric hospital that provides treatment for adults in psychiatric crisis. The hospital is intended to be of short to intermediate duration with the objective of stabilizing presenting symptoms and returning the patient to community living in the shortest reasonable period of time. The commonality of these hospitals is to provide treatment for short durations of time and get them back into the community, a Band-Aid to the real problem, consistent care and consistent treatment.
The economic downturn has made an impact on the state of Idaho and the mass unemployment has exacerbated and caused deep cuts in the economic support of public money to the care and treatment of those with mental health issues. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter recommended budget for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's mental health services division during the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, is about $32.4 million. That's down 4.6 percent from the current fiscal year and a full 19 percent less than in 2008 two years after he took office. The division of Health and Welfare has laid off or left unfilled 35 full-time positions to assist adults with mental health problems, and another 14 positions to help Idaho youth. About 450 people in the past year have been referred to out of state mental health programs or to private providers amid the staffing cuts and budget holdbacks in 2009 and 2010.
Impact of Policy & Analysis:
Currently, Idaho has no published policy on the treatment of those with mental illnesses. Idaho uses many out of state resources to minimize the cost of dealing with the mentally ill. An example can be drawn from the use of the Oregon’s suicide hotline. Since Idaho does not currently have a hotline, people in crisis are directed to call the Oregon help center. Why? Simply put the state government does not have any financial obligation nor does it need to provide trained counselors or professionals to staff a state center. The State of Idaho provides state funded and operated community based mental health care services through Regional Mental Health Centers (RMHC) located in each of the seven geographical regions of the state.
Judgment:
The idea of deinstitutionalizing mental health care and the treatment of those who suffer from mental disorders was a well-intentioned idea, the failure to provide outpatient care that revolved around the idea of recovery and the ability to return and function in society is easily one of the biggest failures of the 20th century. Today, in many states including Idaho, the continuation of closing hospitals or limiting the number of beds by administrators and politicians are creating a problem that they either do not want to face or chose not to care. In many cases it is easy to point out problems but a harder task to offer suggestions that will change the direction social services will provide those who need the help. There are many possibilities that politicians and administrators can look at. Some of these are:
1)
Use
and incorporate outpatient treatment: In order to ensure that
those individuals diagnosed with a serious mental illness get the treatment
they need to not return back to jail, prison or hospitals the implementation of
an outpatient treatment facility is necessary. An outpatient treatment facility
would provide a legal base for providers to ensure that selected seriously
mental ill patients follow through with prescribed medication and treatment
plans in order to remain in the community.
2)
Use
Mental Health Courts: Mental illness is a substantial contributing
cause to crime in Idaho. Crimes committed by persons suffering from mental
illness cause substantial losses to persons and business throughout the state
and endanger public safety. In addition, millions of dollars are spent each
year on the incarceration, supervision and treatment of mentally ill offenders;
Mental health courts in Idaho and other jurisdictions that closely supervise
and monitor mentally ill adult and juvenile offenders can oversee their
treatment are an innovative alternative to incarceration for certain offenders.
Such courts, which can be operated in conjunction with drug courts, have
provided a cost-effective approach to addressing the mental health needs of
offenders, reducing recidivism, providing community protection, easing the
caseload of the courts, and alleviating the problem of increasing prison, jail
and detention populations. The goal of mental health courts is to reduce the
overcrowding of jails and prisons, to reduce alcohol and drug abuse and
dependency among criminal and juvenile offenders, to hold offenders
accountable, to reduce recidivism, and to promote effective interaction and use
of resources among the courts, justice system personnel and community agencies.
(State of Idaho Judicial Branch, 2012)
3)
Shift
state fund: Idaho has the capability to require all
county departments of mental health, such as the Department of Health and
Welfare, to pay IDOC for all cost associated with treatment of seriously
mentally ill prison inmates. This would ease some of the problems IDOC has
faced financially over the last few years. As of FY11 the Idaho Department of
Corrections (IDOC) has had to handle multiple adversities that have resulted in
staff furloughs (un-paid time off), a 23% correctional officer turnover rate
and the costs associated with initially training correctional officer at the
Peace Officer Standards and Training academy. To illustrate the low priority that
Idaho places on the care and rehabilitation of those with mental disorders one
needs only to look at Key Strategic Initiatives for FY12 (Correction, 2011) listed on their website. These
initiatives are listed in order of importance as stated by IDOC administrators:
1. Reduce staff turnover
2. Population management through the
Manage All Populations (MAP) group
3. Substance use disorder services
implementation
4. Sex Offender Management Board
implementation
5.
Secure mental health facility development
6. Management and leadership development
7. Commitment to Quality, quality assurance
initiative
4) Reform
treatment laws: Begin with developing and implementing a mandate that
provides dedicated treatment for offenders and those individuals that are
incarcerated with serious mental disorders. This policy can focus on treatment
interventions that can be based on need for treatment standards rather than on
dangerousness. The idea of this is to allow mentally ill individuals the
ability to seek treatment before they commit a crime, not after. (Torrey, 2010.
