NCJ Number
145224
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 55 Issue: 6 Dated: (October 1993) Pages: 104-107
Date Published
1993
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Jail officials in Alexandria, Virginia, work closely with the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse to provide services to inmates in need of mental health treatment.
Abstract
Through a cost sharing approach, 7.5 department staffers are assigned to the detention center and various other specialists provide case management, training, and research when needed. Two programs at the jail are designed to duplicate intensive residential programs in the greater community. The critical care mental health unit typically houses suicidal, schizophrenic, or chronically mentally ill inmates as well as those having serious incarceration adjustment problems. Through this program, inmates who do not meet the criteria for hospitalization in the community will nevertheless receive appropriate treatment. The detention center's two Sober Living units provide a 90-day intensive residential treatment program to help inmates prepare to lead sober and productive lives after release. The jail's mental health staff also provide services including evaluations for hospitalization and routine consultations on risk assessments, follow-up care through medication clinics to inmates who have been released from the critical care mental health unit, and educational programs to raise inmates' awareness of mental health issues such as stress and anger management, life skills, communication, and race relations.