jails

The Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center in Plymouth houses men for court-mandated addiction treatment.

Prison For Forced Addiction Treatment? A Parent's 'Last Resort' Has Consequences

7:13am April 20, 2019

by Deborah Becker

Thousands of Massachusetts residents have been committed to treatment for addiction against their will. Some families say locking up addicts in prison isn't treatment. Others say it saves lives.

Courts

Report Sheds Light On The Number Of People In 'Correctional Control'

3:53pm December 11, 2018

by Sean Bueter

A new report from a non-partisan advocacy group is comparing North Carolina's correctional system to others across the country.

Lt. Ryan Snyder, who works at the Champaign County jail in Illinois, says it's hard for any such facility to provide the kind of one-on-one mental health treatment many inmates need.

Health & Safety

County Jails Struggle To Treat Mentally Ill Inmates

1:35pm September 19, 2018

by Christine Herman

Getting mental health treatment to inmates who need it requires money and unprecedented collaboration between state and county departments of criminal justice and social services. Is it working?

By some accounts, almost half of the incarcerated population in the U.S. suffers from mental illness.

Behind Bars, Mentally Ill Inmates Are Often Punished For Their Symptoms

2:19pm July 10, 2018

by Dave Davies

While visiting jails and prisons across the country, author Alisa Roth witnessed mentally ill inmates in solitary confinement, wearing restrictive jumpsuits and receiving very limited therapy.

Queue Listen Now

News

State Prison Breaks Suicide Prevention Policy On Inmate With Mental Illness

11:45pm June 17, 2018

by Sean Bueter

A North Carolina prison is being accused of breaking its own policies after holding an inmate with mental illness in solitary confinement for long periods of time.

An average of 13,776 inmates in 45 California counties were on psychotropic medications in 2016-2017, a recent report found. That is up from 10,999 five years ago.

Big Jump Seen In Number Of Inmates Prescribed Psychiatric Drugs In California

4:16pm May 04, 2018

by Anna Gorman

Amid a severe shortage of psychiatric beds and community-based treatment throughout the state and nation, county jails have become repositories for people in the throes of acute mental health crises.

By some estimates, nearly half of the people confined in U.S. jails and prisons have a mental illness, notes Alisa Roth, author of Insane: America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness.

'Insane': America's 3 Largest Psychiatric Facilities Are Jails

10:21pm April 25, 2018

by Ailsa Chang

Alisa Roth's new book suggests U.S. jails and prisons have become warehouses for the mentally ill. They often get sicker in these facilities, Roth says, because they don't get appropriate treatment.

Queue Listen Now

Madison Jensen, 21, died on Dec. 1, 2016, of a cardiac arrhythmia due to dehydration and opiate withdrawal while in custody of the Duchesne County, Utah, jail.

National

Utah Jails, Prisons To Get New Safety Standards After Deaths And Controversy

1:46pm January 30, 2018

by Whittney Evans

Questions about the number of inmates dying in custody drew attention to the standards. A former Corrections chief said existing safety standards contained trade secrets, and would not release them.

People walk by a sign at the entrance to Rikers Island on March 31, 2017. New York cITY Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that he agrees with the fundamentals of a plan to close the jail complex within 10 years.

National

Despite Scrutiny, Rikers Island's 'Culture Of Violence' Persists, Report Says

9:59am November 30, 2017

by Jose Olivares

This latest report has fueled the debate on closing the jail facilities on the island.

Kara Salim, 26, got out of the Marion County, Indiana, jail in 2015 with a history of domestic-violence charges, bipolar disorder and alcoholism — and without Medicaid coverage. As a result, she couldn't afford the fees for court-ordered therapy.

Signed Out Of Prison But Not Signed Up For Health Insurance

10:54am December 06, 2016

Most of the state prison systems in the places that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare have come up short on enrolling exiting inmates, despite the fact that many of them are chronically ill.

Queue Listen Now