Assignment:
Introduction
Consider the following scenario from your textbook:
The prison's budget was causing major headaches for Warden Kevin Barnello. Although the state had been cutting operational budgets for the past five years for all departments, the allocation for the five state prisons had been significantly affected this year. Budget cutbacks were clearly going to hinder overall operations, but now his new problem was how to fund programs for the growing population of inmates with special needs.
The state penitentiary at Middletown has increased the numbers and types of special needs offenders every year and the need to create functional programming for each group is becoming intense. The growing numbers of sex offenders, older and geriatric inmates, prisoners with disabilities, offenders with chronic diseases, the mentally ill, and a huge population of illegal immigrants all require specialized care which is often very expensive. The most immediate problem was the looming federal requirement requiring facilities to make all areas accessible for handicapped individuals.
As if things were not bad enough, the recent hiring freeze imposed on all state agencies by the governor created more pressure on the warden. The freeze and funding cutbacks were hitting while the institution needed to fund programs that would assist these various groups of special needs offenders. Barnello knew the right thing to do was to find the money by cutting his budget elsewhere, but after years of "doing more with less," he had no fat left in his budget.
Offenders with unique needs were also becoming a political issue. All U.S. correctional systems have had to assume increased responsibility for many medical, mental health, and social service needs for these specialized populations. State legislators were openly criticizing the governor's inability to provide appropriate access and care for convicted offenders with physical disabilities and the warden knew it would not be long before other groups became the focus-geriatric inmates, for instance, always generated a soft spot in the public eye.
Barnello's fiscal crisis and pressing responsibilities were reaching a critical stage.
Initial Post Instructions
For your initial post, analyze the scenario and evaluate the following. Include a synthesis of academic concepts.
? Why do special needs offenders create such pressures on correctional managers? Why have these pressures grown in the past 10 years?
? Which strategy should be followed: fund the immediate critical need of disabled prisoner access, or simply focus on institutional basics and not fund special needs offender support programs? How would you prioritize the needs of these various special needs' groups?
? Should the growing political attention on offenders with unique needs force the warden to cut back on custody and case management positions that supervise the general prison population? Why?
? How should the warden respond to critical media reports of less than stellar programs for special needs?
Introduction
Consider the following scenario from your textbook:
Inmate Phil McKenzie was determined to get out of the segregation unit of the prison at all costs. He cut his arms and legs and tried to hang himself with the tube from his breathing machine that was provided to address his sleep apnea. When that did not work, he broke of a sharp piece of metal from the machine, which he first used to slice his neck and then swallowed, in hopes of causing internal bleeding. Corrections staff managed to save McKenzie and released him from isolation to get him much-needed medical and mental health treatment. McKenzie had a long history of depression, and when he returned to segregation 5 weeks later, he hung himself, thereby becoming the 13th inmate in the state to commit suicide in less than 2½ years.
Inmate advocates have filed suit in federal court, claiming that McKenzie and 18 other inmates who committed suicide or attempted suicide were driven to harm themselves by the conditions they endured in isolation units in prisons around the country. Most states operate segregation units, though some have recently reacted to lawsuits by no longer putting mentally ill inmates in such units. Others have implemented more frequent monitoring of the inmates, increased training of staff, and removed fixtures that could be used for hangings.
Around the country, department of corrections staff are struggling with how to treat violent inmates who are out of control and need to be segregated from others for their own safety, as well as the safety of other inmates and staff. However, for the mentally ill inmates who fall into this category, placement in segregation, which often results in being locked in a cell for 23 hours a day with just 1 hour for shower and recreation in an outdoor cage, can amount to a death sentence.
The expert retained by the state to examine McKenzie's case concluded that "confining suicidal inmates to their cell for 24 hours a day only enhances isolation and is anti-therapeutic." The department of corrections vowed to adopt all of the resulting recommendations, including better inmate assessments, better supervision and monitoring of inmates, and better officer training.
Initial Post Instructions
For your initial post, analyze the scenario and evaluate the following. Include a synthesis of academic concepts.
? How can prison and jail administrators deal with mentally ill and special needs offenders?
? Are segregation units ethical and safe for mentally ill inmates? Why or why not?
? How can specialized inmate programming help offenders like McKenzie?
? What standard should the courts employ to determine cases like this one?