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 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010 8:07 am |
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Local News 
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Inmates with mental illness bring extra costs to Monroe prison $14.6 million is needed each year to house and care for 144 inmates in the special offender unit. MONROE — Most of the time, the $100,000 man sits alone in his cell.A 23-year-old diagnosed with schizophrenia, he’s serving time for second-degree murder, Monroe Correctional Complex officials said. At the prison, he takes anti-psychotic medication. If he follows the pattern of fellow convicts, he may be treated for depression once he grasps that he will be there until 2022, officials said. He is among the 144 convicts living in Monroe who make up one of the state’s most expensive prison populations. The group costs taxpayers about $14.6 million per year, or $101,653 per man, according to a November report on the prison system requested by the state Legislature. The group highlights an expensive aspect of the system: the cost of caring for inmates with mental illness. Most prisoners cost closer to $30,000 per year, according to the report. The special offender unit at Monroe is the only one like it in the state. “It’s unique in our system,” said Monroe prison superintendent Scott Frakes. The unit requires significantly higher levels of staffing, driving up the cost of care. Along with psychiatrists and psychologists, more corrections officers are needed. For example, in a different area of the Monroe prison, the Washington State Reformatory, three officers can monitor about 200 convicts. At the special offender unit, three officers monitor 36 convicts. “The cost of supervising this level of inmate is going to be greater no matter where they’re housed, because of the security risk they pose,” said Tracey Thompson, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 117, which represents state prison employees. Many of the convicts in the special offender unit also ring up more medical bills. In some cases, the men come to prison with significant health care problems in addition to psychiatric issues, Frakes said. “What I see is a population that is often in pretty rough shape when they arrive,” he said. The group has a diverse make-up. Some are in their 20s, others in their 60s. Some have multiple offenses for armed robbery or narcotics. Others are serving life sentences for homicide. The cost of operating the special offender unit led to some misleading information in August. The state was considering closing a branch of the prison and the unit’s expenses inflated the annual cost of housing prisoners at Monroe to about $45,000 per convict. In fact, most prisoners in Monroe cost closer to $30,000 a year to house, according to the November report prepared by Christopher Murray and Associates of Olympia. No parts of the Monroe prison complex — the state’s most populous — were closed. The staff at the special offender unit tries to treat the convicts so they can eventually be moved into a general prison population. Specific percentages on success weren’t available. Sometimes the goal is met, and sometimes it’s not. “There are some that are so ill, so damaged and so dangerous that they don’t leave,” Frakes said. Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455, arathbun@heraldnet.com. |
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COMMENTS
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Look at these "comments" from know-it-alls who seem to know nothing about mental health field, those who practice in within the correctional setting, and most importantly, what goes on at Monroe Correctional Complex.
One commenter advised that his mommy works in the SOU. Seems mom spends most of her time complaining about the other workers. What does sonny-boy do for work? Has he ever been inside of the SOU? Has he, or would he, consider working there so that things might improve by virtue of his advanced education and personal insights into mental illness?
Another scribbler, wants to know who decides who is an insane criminal and who is a sane one. Well, my friend, come to the SOU and let me introduce you to a few residents, and then we can allow YOU do make the diagnosis.
What a bunch of airheads. Oh, by the way, I left MCC about an hour ago. I've WORKED in the mental health / social service field for 25 years. Guess that puts me just a tad ahead of the know-it-alls (and their mommies) whose comments preceded mine.
Veritas Splendor | Nov 23, 2009 6:21 pm | 0 replies | Request removal
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Also, to say we need to recognize and treat "mental illness" as soon as it is recongnized, what exactly tips you off? What does the "suspected" person need to know about what not to do or say to be diagnosed? People are diagnosed with all kinds of things to sell pharmacueticals and keep the business going. This article mentions a guy who was supposedly diagnosed and "treated" years ago and still committed a crime. How do you know the encounters with the doctors didn't make him/her worse? Mental health providers are routinely abusive. And what exactly is "treatment" besides medication? What is the actual dialogue and behavior of the treatment process? I mean, what exactly is expected to happen?
Brian Caldwell | Nov 23, 2009 11:36 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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I don't think anyone commits crimes because of an illness. I think people are addicted to illegal drugs, need money, don't have food, etc. I really think people need to think twice about who they call "ill," because it is the abuse and confusion inflicted on them by others, and the attempt to "keep them quiet" about the crimes of OTHERS that gets people the "ill" label. A label that means "invalid testimony" against others who could be the real criminals in anyone's life.
Brian Caldwell | Nov 23, 2009 11:08 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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The "extra costs" of housing the 144 mentally ill inmates at the Monroe prison at taxpayers expense comes from not recognizing and treating mental illness as soon as it is recognized. There is a distinct difference between prisoners who commit crimes without being mentally ill and those who have a metal illness and end up committing crimes because of a mental illness that has not been treated. Mental illness is an illness and needs to be treated as such.
Perhaps it is time to look into a better way of addressing and housing the mentally ill who have committed crimes. We used to use hospitals for the seriously mentally ill but we closed down those facilities and now we are dealing with the cost of those actions which were to save money. It looks like it didn't work.
So now we have increased crime rates from some people with mental illness who, if they had been properly diagnosed and treated may not have ended up in a prison system that is woefully unprepared to care for them. While it is true that they committed crimes there must be a better way to take care of both the crime and the mental illness in the prison system.
Loretta Kibby | Nov 23, 2009 8:44 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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My mother works as a nurse in this unit. Her #1 complaint is the number of psychiatric staff. They do not perform any MEDICAL services. They take hour-plus long lunches and are constantly in a "meeting". There is a nursing shortage and nurses are having to work MANDATORY overtime just to provide coverage. The prison can't hire nurses because nurses can make more money and work less hours elsewhere, and are not subject to MANDATORY overtime. This is the same unit where, last year, an inmate cut off his penis. Yes, it was one of the psychiatric staff, not the nurses, who allowed this inmate to have the razor. If the state needs to save money, then cut the psychologists...
Anthony Vicari | Nov 23, 2009 8:03 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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People do not "come to prison." There is an illegal act they commit and are arrested. There is no need to assume a negative trajectory of people necessarily "getting worse and worse and going to prison." Not everyone who takes a certain medication or has a certain artifical/inaccurate label on them are guilty of any crime, or would be likely to commit any one of those suggested. This article is a terribly misleading "hit piece" on people who may not be guilty of anything and wouldn't commit any offenses such as those listed.
Brian Caldwell | Nov 23, 2009 7:07 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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It's a lot cheaper to make sure people have the medicine and housing and food that they need in the first place. I still haven't figured out exactly who decides who are "insane" criminals and who are the "sane" ones. Evidently the "insane" are censored from speaking and kept in the dark about their situation. Psychologists generate, expect, and exacerbate bad/odd behavior. Some "crazy" people don't commit any crimes at all, while many "sane" people do.
Brian Caldwell | Nov 23, 2009 5:30 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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