Mischief, Mayhem, and Remediation.

Institutional rules are necessary to preserve safety and security in correctional systems. An assessment of relevant mental health problems is a key element of a fair disciplinary process. Though these hearings are administrative in nature, we recommend that mental health evaluations related to disciplinary matters be completed by qualified and well-trained professionals using consistent standards. There are important opportunities to interrupt an untreated mental illness by identifying mental health problems during such evaluations and making appropriate referrals for treatment. We propose the use of intrafacility diversionary programs for drug offenses and other misconduct.

Prescribing for Women in Corrections.

Prescribing for women in jails and prisons requires special consideration and should be informed by extant evidence. Incarcerated women have higher rates of mental illness than both females in the community and incarcerated men. Medication administration concerns that may disproportionately affect female prisoners include drug-drug interactions with contraceptives, intermittent dosing schedules, and concerns about metabolic side effects. Further, pregnancy, lactation, and menopause may all affect medication choices. Incarcerated women frequently have comorbid mental illness, substance use disorders, and personality disorders. Finally, specific disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, are more common in this population and merit special consideration for recognition and treatment.

Characteristics of Inmates Who Initiate Hunger Strikes.

A hunger strike is a common, expensive, and potentially lethal event within a correctional institution. In this study, we describe the characteristics of inmates who initiated hunger strikes in a state prison system. Electronic medical records for a state prison system were reviewed for documentation of hunger strikes from January 2005 through September 2015. There were 292 hunger strikes during the study period. Most (71%) lasted three or fewer days. When weight data were available, only 12.9 percent of the hunger strikes resulted in a weight loss >10 percent. Mental health patients were disproportionately represented in the sample (45%), although diagnoses of personality disorders (48%) rather than mood (17%) or psychotic (10%) disorders accounted for most of these cases. Nearly 75 percent of inmates who initiated hunger strikes did so while residing in disciplinary housing. In more than 80 percent of the strikes, the reason for stopping the strike was unknown. When the reasons were known, custody intervention rather than mental health intervention was the most common reason for the ending of a strike. Improving communication with custody administration and mitigating unnecessarily aversive housing environments are likely to reduce the incidence of hunger strikes.

Characteristics of Inmates Who Misuse Prescription Medication.

Substance use disorders are common among incarcerated individuals, and prescribed medications have been reported as abused, diverted, or otherwise misused in correctional settings. We conducted a retrospective chart review of electronic medical records and reports on institutional charges for misuse of authorized medication by inmates in the New Jersey Department of Corrections between 2003 and 2013. The most frequently cited medications for misuse were gabapentin, diphenhydramine, clonidine, and ibuprofen. When compared with the entire current inmate population, subjects were more likely to have any history of a substance use disorder, to be in treatment for a mental illness, to have any diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, to have any history of malingering, and to be prescribed a greater number of medicines. Prescribers in correctional settings should be aware that medications not traditionally prescribed by a psychiatrist may also be misused, and caution should be taken to manage this risk.

Better Prescribing in Correctional Facilities.

Serious mental illness is highly prevalent in jails and prisons, and treatment with psychiatric medications is often required. However, operational factors and patient characteristics make prescribing in correctional settings uniquely challenging. The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law has approved the formation of a working group to create a Resource Document examining best practices for prescribing psychiatric medications in these settings.

The prevalence of delusional disorder in prison.

Delusional disorder has important implications for forensic psychiatrists, as delusions are not infrequently related to criminal behavior. Thus, we hypothesized that delusional disorder is over-represented in correctional populations. We conducted a retrospective chart review of the electronic medical records from 2000 to 2012 of New Jersey Department of Corrections inmates who remained incarcerated as of March 2012. Potential cases of delusional disorder were initially identified by using a search for current or past diagnoses of such disorders or other diagnoses that could be misdiagnosed cases. After an initial chart review identified an inmate as having probable delusional disorder according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) criteria, the diagnosis was confirmed by at least one concurring independent review. We estimate a point prevalence of 0.24 percent for delusional disorder in our population, which is eight times higher than that expected in the community.

Commentary: bridging the gaps for former inmates with serious mental illness.

Serious mental illness is a prominent and vexing problem within the correctional systems of North America. Simpson and colleagues draw attention to the epidemiology, special characteristics, and management problems relevant to Canadian inmates with serious mental illness. Of great interest to those in the forensic psychiatric field is the matter of continuation of care for mentally ill prisoners, in that untreated or undertreated psychiatric problems are strongly associated with poor social functioning and criminal recidivism. In this commentary, we expand on the discussion in Simpson et al. of the effectiveness of assertive community treatment teams for those former inmates at greatest risk for future involvement with the criminal justice system. We also propose outpatient civil commitment as one strategy to facilitate the successful return of select inmate patients to the community.

Successful removal of quetiapine from a correctional formulary.

The abuse of medications in prison is a phenomenon well known among correctional health care professionals, and quetiapine has emerged as a drug of abuse in these settings. Considering the risks of abuse and diversion and the high cost compared with effective alternative antipsychotic medications, the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee voted to remove quetiapine from the formulary. In a retrospective chart review, clinically relevant outcome measures were evaluated in patients prescribed quetiapine at the time of this change. Psychiatrists attempted to stop the quetiapine in 63.4 percent of the cases and were successful (not requiring continuation or restarting of the medicine) 95.7 percent of the time. There were no statistically significant differences in the number of patients who needed a higher level of care, days in a higher level of care, number of patients needing constant (e.g., suicide) watch, days on constant watch, suicidal behavior, or disciplinary charges when the subjects in whom an attempt to discontinue quetiapine was made was compared with those in whom it was continued. In 44.7 percent of cases in which an attempt was made to stop quetiapine (and in 28.3% of cases in the entire NJDOC population as of January 2009), no antipsychotic medication was needed to manage the patients during the study period. This study supports the decision to remove quetiapine from the NJDOC formulary.

Diversion to the mental health system: emergency psychiatric evaluations.

In Maryland, any citizen may petition to have individuals brought against their will for an examination by a physician. In this retrospective chart review, we evaluated the characteristics of 300 persons referred to the Johns Hopkins Hospital on emergency petitions. Sixty-one percent of petitions described individuals who made verbal or physical threats of self-harm. Forty-seven percent of the petitions described individuals who could have been arrested based on dangerousness to others or property, but were instead diverted to the emergency room for psychiatric evaluation. Although not promoted as a jail diversion program, this process has the potential to direct mentally ill citizens appropriately from the criminal justice system into the mental health system. Greater involvement of mental health professionals at all stages, including police training and participation in crisis response teams in the community, may improve this process.