Stimulant use under a prison treatment protocol for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Although stimulant medications are the mainstay of effective intervention for attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), their use presents a daunting scenario for psychiatry, nursing, and custody staff in correctional settings, where reported prevalence rates range from 9% to 45%. The reported rates, however, may overestimate actual prevalence in general and need for treatment in particular. Under a monitored protocol that required documentation of history, diagnosis, lack of response to nonstimulant treatment, and significant functional impairment, less than 1% of male inmates in the Massachusetts state prison system met criteria for treatment with stimulants. Although this protocol did not attempt to determine overall ADHD prevalence rates, the relatively low number of inmates with compelling reasons for stimulant treatment may provide a more realistic idea of the likely consequences of allowing access to this intervention.

A national survey of self-injurious behavior in American prisons.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought information about the prevalence, epidemiology, and management of self-injurious behavior by inmates in U.S. prison systems. Although self-injurious behavior has long been the source of significant challenges in correctional settings, limited research is available on this topic. METHODS: Mental health directors in all 51 state and federal prison systems were invited to respond to a 30-item questionnaire available online or in hard copy. Univariate statistics were used to describe significant aspects of the national experience with self-injurious behavior, and bivariate statistics were used to examine relationships between variables. RESULTS: Thirty-nine systems (77%) responded to the survey. Responses indicated that <2% of inmates per year engage in self-injurious behavior, but such events were reported to occur at least weekly in 85% of systems, with occurrences more than once daily in some systems, thus causing substantial disruptions to operations and draining resources. The highest rates of occurrence of these behaviors were in maximum-security and lockdown units and most often involved inmates with axis II disorders. Despite the seriousness of the problem, systems typically collect few, if any, data on self-injurious behaviors, and management approaches to dealing with them lack consistency within and across systems. Eighty-four percent of respondents expressed interest in participating in further studies on this topic. CONCLUSIONS: The survey responses indicated the disruptive effects of self-injurious behavior in the nation's prisons, a need for better epidemiologic monitoring and data on such behavior, and the importance of developing and widely using effective interventions. The high response rate and expressed interest in follow-up projects suggest that state and federal correctional mental health directors see a need for better information and management in this area.

Howard Zonana and the subspecialty maturation of forensic psychiatry.

The formal process of specialization and subspecialization in medicine began at the start of the 20th century. Although forensic psychiatry has long held a central place within organized psychiatry, it was not officially recognized as a subspecialty until the end of the 20th century. This milestone was achieved through the efforts of many leaders in the field, and prominent among them has been Howard Zonana, MD. His contributions as a clinician, scholar, leader, and mentor over the past several decades have helped advance the maturation of forensic psychiatry and pave the way for its accreditation as a subspecialty. A review of his career illuminates the core stages of this process.

Commentary: the art of forensic report writing.

As forensic psychiatry has matured into a well-recognized subspecialty, considerable agreement about the format and content of reports has emerged. Griffith et al. now turn their attention to the art of forensic writing. Their description of the forensic report as "performative narrative" may help to refine professional practice so long as the ethics-related pitfalls are identified and avoided.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in prison: a treatment protocol.

Prescribing controlled substances in correctional settings can create challenges for security, nursing, and psychiatric staff. Some inmates, including those with functionally significant attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), however, can benefit from such treatment. This article describes the development of a protocol for the treatment of prison inmates with ADHD that attempted to address a broad range of concerns including disparate diagnostic and treatment standards among prison psychiatrists, conflicts between stakeholders, and medication misuse and substance abuse among inmates. The protocol provides criteria in four main areas: diagnosis, current functional impairment, treatment in general, and treatment with stimulants. Stakeholders had mixed reactions to the protocol.

Commentary: the use of restraint and seclusion in correctional mental health.

In contrast to the position taken in the American Psychiatric Association's "Resource Document on The Use of Restraint and Seclusion in Correctional Mental Health Care," this commentary proposes limiting the use of mental health restraints to the stabilization of unsafe situations during the time it takes to transfer an inmate to a psychiatric hospital. Jails and prisons are inherently nontherapeutic environments and are not adequate settings for managing mental health emergencies, such as those that require the use of restraints. Correctional conditions often contribute to the onset, and impede the resolution, of the underlying mental health crisis. Attempts to contain mental health emergencies in a correctional setting with an expanded use of restraints can compromise clinical care, overlook the root cause of many crises, impair the role of mental health professionals by blurring the distinction between mental health and security staff, and can lead to a deterioration in the standards of care.

A university-state-corporation partnership for providing correctional mental health services.

In September 1998 the University of Massachusetts Medical School, in partnership with a private vendor of correctional health care, began providing mental health services and other services to the Massachusetts Department of Correction. The experience with this partnership demonstrates that the involvement of a medical school with a correctional system has advantages for both. The correctional program benefits from enhanced quality of services, assistance with the recruitment and retention of skilled professionals, and expansion of training and continuing education programs. The medical school benefits by building its revenue base while providing a needed public service and through opportunities to extend its research and training activities. Successful collaboration requires that the medical school have an appreciation of security needs, a sensitivity to fiscal issues, and a readiness to work with inmates who have severe mental disorders and disruptive behavior. Correctional administrators, for their part, must support adequate treatment resources and must collaborate in the resolution of tensions between security and health care needs.