AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When my son was at Solano in 2003, he had a psychologist actually tell him "it is not our job to try to help you - it is our job to medicate you until you are released - once you parole you can get Mental Health treatment.

My son is at one of the "better" prisons. But basically things are the same at all of them. If an inmate doesn't have an advocate on the outside, he is pretty much out of luck to get anything done.

Can you just imagine if there were even 50,000 people advocating for inmates? People who write letters and make phone calls who don't back down when the going gets tough. CDCr would be buried in paperwork. If a prison gets a call that an inmate is sick and not being cared for - that inmate MUST be taken in for a medical evaluation - did you know that? That is what my son's prison told me.

There are too many loved ones on the outside that do not even know that if you do not have a CDC Form 7385 on file, prison officials will not discuss ANY medical or mental health issues regarding an inmate. A Power of Attorney doesn't do squat without the CDC Form.

Keep up the great articles Just. I'm sending them to my son and when I talked to him yesterday, he said you were "RIGHT ON". He is passing them around to the other guys and I think some of them will be responding.

Just - for your information, I have had a couple of people tell me they have posted a couple of times but their posts have not appeared. There are a bunch of people who are reading your blog religiously though, but some just cannot post.

Thanks Mad, Grey, Lyndia, and We're...

I am happy to see this blog is getting support, it would be really great if we received more questions by people not as directly affected too!

Pass tis blog on to your local politicians, let them get involved. To your local paper and whomever you think might take part and an interest. It's imperative that people understand the truth, but the truth that is on the surface is buried deep within the hearts scarred but media disinformation.

Have your loved ones inside respond to some of the postings and tell thepublic what it's really like.

I haven't been to Solano, but have met quite a few that have and it sounds like a place where corruption is rampant. I seriously doubt that phones are being recycled, but you never know...

If people are posting and it is not making it to the board it is probably an internal issue at SFBG. I would suggest they copy their post and try it again until it makes it to the blog.

From what I understand the 'suspected' case of H1N1 involves an inmate in Centinela who is in Ad Seg, sort of makes one wonder, if he does actually have it, who did he catch it from? It sure wasn't one of those 'pesky visitors' because as far as I know in ad seg you don't have contact visits.

But I bet that no one has even asked CDCR how that inmate contracted the flu, or what they were doing to prevent the source from spreading it (the source has to be someone employed in the prison)

But that should surprise no one, since the reality is there is actually no one in charge of CDCR, they act with complete impunity making one poorly thought out decision after another. Legislators don't dare challenge anything CDCR does, fearing that CCPOA will fund a 'prison friendly' opposition candidate at election time.

So you have a 10 billion dollar a year bureacracy run mostly by people who think that prison inmates are sub-human and believe that the only 'rehabilitation' comes out of the barrel of a gun.

Yeah, a PAINT GUN!

wanted to share with you- from one of my yahoo groups:

"Just a Guy",

More responses would be nice but don't despair. I forward your articles to friends, family and local newspaper.
Keep on writing man. You are reaching more people than you know.

Thanks...

Larry

Whoa! Hold your horses. For one thing, when I post, I am a representative of
AFSCME Local 2620, the union for state social service workers. Second, you have to understand how the mental health delivery system is organized AND that it is separate from the rehabilitation efforts that CDCR and CSP-Solano are currently undertaking.

FIrst, the Mental Health Delivery system is the result of a court order following the Coleman case about 12 or 14 years ago. It provides 4 levels of care for seriously mentally ill inmates. It also provides short-term care for those with less serious mental disorders and will provide medication to inmates for these disorders. It also provides different degrees of care, depending on the level. Mental Health Crisis Bed treats inmates who are in a serious mental health crisis, such as being suicidal, homicidal due to a mental illness or gravely disabled and unable to care for themselves at the most basic level. If an inmate cannot be stabilized within ten days, he or she may be transferred to the Department of Mental Health for long-term hospital care. At the EOP level, inmates attend groups and receive 10 hours of group and individual therapy per week. At the CCC level, they are provided case management because they are stabilized on their medications and only need minimal counseling or therapy. However, any CCC inmate who desires more intensive treatment or who needs more intensive treatment and/or therapy (but not at the EOP level) can be seen more often as needed by mental health staff, usually a psychologist or licensed clinical social worker. Psychiatrists mainly provide only medication management, except in the hospitials or in the crisis bed units.

Finally, mental health services are also available to general population inmates, on an as-needed basis for a short-term crises, such as a death in the family, or bad news from the board. In addition, clinicians are encouraged to do group therapy for mental health delivery treatment inmates, but space is usually the big issue. In my personal opinion, I would like to see more extensive mental health treatment available to all inmates, but that's not how the court order has been set up.

All this is TOTALLY separate from the mental health topics that are supposed to be included in the rehabilitation program as recommended by the expert panel convened by Governor Schwarzenegger. These topics are not intended to provide "treatment," but are more psychoeducational and deal with topics such as anger management, violence prevention, marital and family relationships. The only area which might be considered "treatment" would be programs for sex offenders. While these programs are best delivered by experiences clinicians, most are not considered "treatment," except, as I mentioned, the sex offender programs. And you can imagine the logistical obstacles to this idea, though it is badly needed.

Finally, regarding medication -- the goal is to help the person to function to the best of his or her ability given the mental illness with which they may be afflicted. It is NOT, repeat not to make them numb, quiet, zombies, etc. That is unethical and poor practice. Medication is also only given in conjunction with other treatment modalities -- those being case management, individual therapy, group therapy, or hospitalization.

I cannot control the behavior or one or two colleagues who may or may not be doing their job properly. It happens, but for the most part, the mental health professionals in CDCR do a very good job. We want to do more, but are restricted by the court order and CDCR. But there is opportunity to do good treatment as the program is currently conceptualized if you work at it.

In addition, the mental health delivery system is overseen by court monitors who report to the the judge as to how CDCR is doing. Some institutions do have more problems than others, but it is not a total sham that is being trotted out to please the higher-up or the politicians.

Currently, to my knowledge, there are not plans to use mental health clinicians in the REHABILiTATION programs, with which I disagree, but that does not mean that the psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers currently employed in the mental health delivery system are not doing the most and the best they can.

Elaina Jannell, Ph.D.
AFSCME Local 2620

Elaina:

While I respect your opinion as a mental health care provider and don't doubt that you do the best you can considering the situation and other constraints I stand by what I have said based on experience, my own and the observation of other,a experiences.

I am not qualified to make diagnoses, but general observation has made it very clear that mental health services are overwhelmed and understaffed. And, quite frankly, CDCR doesn't necessarily always hire mental/medical health practitioners that could be considered thought leaders of their repective professions. (Please don't take that the wrong way, I don't mean it to be a reflection of you or your capabilities, I am speaking generally).

Bottom line, for me and my observations/experiences is this:

CDCR, for whatever reasons, is horrible with both mental and medical health care. There is no preventive medicine of any sort and we are, at best, just numbers in a sea of more numbers. The services are inadequate, ALL of the services and create an atmosphere of neglect.

It is evident that this is true based on your postings and the fact that you are speaking out, but you are one voice that hopefully can bring rise to other voices, because your one voice, in an of itself, is not going to be enough to bring change. The fact that your voice is the only one from within the inner folds of the system that has, thus far, spoken is proof of the fear generated by CDCR, CCPOA, the media, and politicians, everyone is afraid to speak out unless they are directly affected.

I hope your voice ignites a fire in others, but, we'll see...

Paint cans at the ready.

First of all, to Elaina, I in no way meant to say that ALL psychologists in CDCR have the mentality of the one who told my son what he did. There are some excellent psychologists and psychiatrists working with the inmates, but there needs to be a way to get rid of the "bad apples". The "bad apple" who said this to my son at Solano is no longer working in the prisons.

I have filed complaint after complaint about members of the EOP team at Mule Creek and NOTHING is done. I have sent copies of Mental Health files showing they have "intercepted mail and listened to phone calls" which is against Title XV and DOM. Not only that, but at the time this report was done, my son had never made a phone call from the prison. Some of these doctors are falsifying records saying they see these inmates every week, when in fact, they do not, or only see them in group.

Many of these "bad apples" are a carry-over from before CDCr started improving the Mental Health departments at prisons and have just continued in the way they have always done. THESE are the ones that need to be "re-educated" or replaced.

My son is out of the EOP program now and in CCCMS. He has found that the psychologists and psychiatrists in CCCMS are far more caring and trustworthy than those in EOP. So far, they have not lied to him once.

I'd like to know why my comment wasn't posted?? I said nothing derogatory or untrue. I thought this was America, land of free speech; I also thought 'post a comment' means that if you submit a comment it will be posted. There was neither personal attacks nor lies in my post. You posted what Elaina had to say; am I less important??? What's the problem????

Monica - You are not the only one having this issue. I posted about this earlier in this blog. I have found that since I created an account at http://www.sfbg.com/, my posts go up right away. You might try this.

Hey Monica -- we're not censoring anyone -- sometimes comments get lost in the traffic shuffle. we're working on upgrading, in the meantime, please try posting again.

CDCR is quite careful about what they call 'treatment' because according to title 15 treatment can be refused by an inmate. There was an appeal a few years ago by an inmate who had been involuntarily placed in a SAP (substance abuse program)stating that because it was 'treatment' he could refuse it. CDCR really went all out to prove that it was not treatment and thus could not be refused..well, actually that was one of the few times CDCR was correct, their substance abuse programs aren't treatment; they are just a HUGE waste of money and time

Just as a general comment, I am so excited to have found this blog! I'm an AmericaCorps VISTA working in a project that supplies mentors to children who have incarcerated parents, and also facilitates a children's literature group in two prisons here in Washington state. I have no background in criminal justice or the corrections system, so it's really great to hear from a voice from inside. I do get to talk with the men and women who participate in the literature program, but our conversations are brief.

I wish there was a blog like this from a Washington inmate! How fortunate for San Francisco (well, and the rest of the world who stumbles upon it!) to be able to coordinate this. I've enjoyed the first few posts and look forward to the coming entries.

I was just wondering about the library at the prison. How is it? What kind of books are there? Are there textbooks on math, science, and computers? What are the novels like? Bona-fide quality or just hack fiction to entertain and pass the time? How busy is the library? Is it packed, or nobody ever goes? Are there computers to use? So maybe inmates can write letters, learn to type, use programs, and maybe even learn to do some programming? How about people sending in books? I heard that you can't send hard-cover books. I also heard you could sometimes, they just rip the cover off before they distribute the books to the inmates. How many books is an inmate allowed to keep?

I understand that the educational opportunities are sub-standard in the prison. What I'm trying to get at is how much opportunity is there for someone to educate themselves in order to better prepare themselves for when they get out. How does the system encourage or discourage this???

Pixie:

That's interesting information, I didn't know that, but it certainly is in line with how CDCr paints a rosy picture and does what ever they want and portray it to their advantage...

Katie:

I am very excited that you're excited! Please keep reading and forward the blog on to others everywhere, thus should be global!

Don From Wi:

The libraries differ from prison to prison, some where you can actually enter and check out books, others are just catalogues with books you request then pick up.

There are a lot of books, but not a lot of technical stuff or self help stuff. There is fiction, but I don't think the priority is on literature, keep in mind the literacy level isn't exactly college and reading Dumas might be a challenge. No computers for general use, there are classes for Microsoft Office, but the waiting list is very long. Programming, ha! We wish...we can't get DOS let alone c, c#, c++, perl, Java, shoot, anything. The amount of books we can have varies, but it is around ten, but even if you have more you don't generally get hassled over it. Ripping the covers off etc...really depends on where you are, but can be true.

A lot of the questions you have asked were answered in my previous posts.

So you know, psychologists and social workers are members of AFSCME Local 2620. Many of them work very hard at improving the quality of the mental health system through our union and have been critical of any poor quality care, lazy and uncaring practitioners and the system's ways of creating more problems than it solves. There are more voices out there than you know. There have been changes over the years, certainly not fast enough, but they exist. The attitude of the public, which comes more from ignorance than anything else, is a big barrier. Public education, in a true and rational manner, not ranting and name calling, will help them understand and start supporting some of the measures that will help turn CDCR around. But it's an ingrained mentality that has existed for 30 years when the tide first turned from rehabilitation to punishment. It is now beginning to turn back, but it will take a long time. I just hope it's not all of another 30 years, because I may not be there to see it.

Elaina Jannell, Ph.D.
AFSCME Local 2620

Thanks Elaina!

Let's hope it's beginning to turn back, I just hope that the "rehabilitation" in name actually becomes real rehabilitative efforts.

Elaina, Just a guy, and everyone -

I am a mental health clinician who works at a state prison - I agree with Elaina that there are many clinicians psychologists, social workers etc - who are highly trained, deeply committed to their work, and may well be some of the best around.

BUT this does not mean that they are actually able to apply their training in the current system.

A major problem is the mental health administrative staff, who have beholden themselves to custody, and more than often bend to their will. This means that custody is effectively allowed to make clinical decisions - and if a clinician raises concerns, they are "blacklisted" by custody, and that means that doing their jobs is made all the more difficult, if not impossible.

Elaina, the MHSDS is broad and general, that is not the problem, nor are the court decisions, or the Coleman monitors. The problem is with how narrowly the CDCR mental health administrators interpret these guidelines/policies. As a result, only a very basic level of mental health treatment/services are provided, and, again, if the clinician raises concerns, or propose anything innovative - they are immediately clamped down by the administrators.

There is very little recourse available, and many of the clinicians get disillusioned very quickly, and leave (not with the inmate-patients, but with the entire set up). If there has been less of a turnover recently, that is because of the economic situation, since the prison system seems to be the only place hiring en masse these days.

I wrote a comment on the california correctional crisis blog - about a month ago - about some of these issues - click here to view.

Elaina, I appreciate your defending clinicians, but I think reforming or trying to change CDCR - with its primary mission of providing custody is a wasted effort. This is why I advocate receivership, and an outside / seperate organization that would implement mental health care in the prison system.