NCJ Number
72844
Date Published
1977
Length
239 pages
Annotation
Addresses and workshop discussion excerpts are presented from a conference on the delivery of mental health services to inmates.
Abstract
In the keynote address, an argument is presented for separating issues of mental health from trial and correctional decisionmaking, except where the accused's mental condition is relevant to establishing the state of mind necessary for culpability. A second address distinguishes 'cure' and 'care' as correctional goals. Cure is considered unrealistic in most cases and care (the provision of humane conditions for living) is deemed inadequate in most prisons. The first steps in the development of a classification system for male youthful offenders based on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory are also described as are the experiences of the committee established to reclassify Alabama inmates under instruction from a Federal judge. Other workshop topics dealt with the following subjects: correctional systems as a treatment environment; the inmate alcoholic and drug abuser; confidentiality, privacy, and treatment rights in providing mental health services to offenders; handling the problem inmate; dealing with psychotic, geriatric, and retarded inmates and sex offenders; and alternatives to incarceration. Excerpts are provided from the discussions on each workshop topic. Some footnotes and graphs are supplied. For individual papers, see NCJ 72845-54.