Court Order Prompts Prison Improvements for Mentally Ill

Indiana Public Media

In response to a 2012 court ruling that the Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC) was failing to provide its mentally ill prisoners with adequate treatment, a new mental health unit has been built at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, and additional housing units are planned for other prisons in the state. During the trial, plaintiffs alleged that inmates with mental illnesses were being put in isolation and deprived of medical attention, and that these conditions sometimes led them to harm themselves or to attempt suicide. Amy Kent, spokesperson for the DOC, said that the department is now partnering with mental health organizations to train employees in the best ways to work with mentally ill prisoners. “Mental health needs of offenders are a unique challenge for correctional facilities, and working with criminal justice stakeholders to improve the quality of care for the seriously mentally ill, it’s better for the safety and security of our facilities and it’s also better for the offenders,” Kent said. About 12 percent of the state’s prison population has been diagnosed with some form of mental illness.