Illinois, a state that gutted mental health funding by 31.7 percent between 2009 and 2012, will soon guarantee specialized mental health services for 11,000 prisoners.
Under the terms of a final settlement recently approved by a federal judge, Illinois will spend $40 million on brand new mental health facilities at four state prisons, including one youth facility. Another $40 million will be spent on hiring 300 clinical staff and 400 security staff. With the additional funding and resources, thousands of prisoners with severe mental illness will receive “long-term and acute care.”
The judge’s decision marks the end of a class action lawsuit that was filed nearly a decade ago by incarcerated plaintiffs with “serious mental illnesses,” including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and psychosis.
According to the lawsuit, Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) officials routinely conducted “arbitrary, haphazard” intake screenings and underdiagnosed prisoners so they wouldn’t have to provide treatment. Prisoners who suffered from mental illness were thrown in solitary confinement, harassed by staff, and sprayed with chemicals. When they lashed out because of their illnesses, prisoners were sent to solitary confinement for extended periods of time and had years added to their sentences.
[For more of this story, written by Carimah Townes, go to http://thinkprogress.org/justi...-mental-health-care/]
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