Mental health problems plague many people who are incarcerated.  But, the expense of healthcare coupled with budget cutbacks has crippled many corrections departments when it comes to addressing the needs of mentally ill offenders.  The Illinois Department of Corrections, however, has found a way to better serve this population without plunging into financial ruin; it has partnered with Argosy University to provide interns to the DOC to assess and treat inmates' mental health issues.  Thanks to this arrangement, offenders are receiving better mental health care and students are gaining hands-on experience in psychology.

"It has been a very cooperative venture," said Tracy Robinson, Director of Clinical Training for the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University/ Chicago Northwest.  "It really benefits the Department of Corrections as well as it takes some of the strain off an already financially strapped system."

But students at Argosy benefit, too.

"[The partnership] provides an opportunity for them to go out and train in the field in a correctional setting," Robinson said.  "It seems to be a perfect fit for training that we're doing academically."

According to Robinson, Argosy students now work in the Stateville, Dwight and Dixon correctional facilities doing their practicums, internships and post-doctoral residencies.  At Dixon, there are three residents and three interns and, at Stateville and Dwight, there are five interns, which rotate between the two prisons.  Each facility also has between three and five practicum students.

"Once a student goes through their practicum, they then apply to their internship," said Robinson, noting that students come to Argosy to do their internships from schools from all over the country.  Currently, there are students participating in the program from Auburn University in Georgia, the University of Denver in Colorado and Regent University in Virginia, he said. 

"We literally have students from all over," Robinson said.  "[The partnership] gives our university and the DOC national exposure."

More Testing

The DOC hopes that by adding additional, highly qualified manpower to its staff, it will be able to provide better mental health services to more of its inmates.  In fact, the department has already begun using students to administer personality and intelligence tests to some inmates during classification rather than relying only on intake interviews for that information.

"The focus of the internship has been to provide psychological testing for everyone coming into the system--to provide a personality test and an intelligence test so that we have a really good idea about what kind of issues we're dealing with, [which] can help with placement, treatment and follow-up," said Amy Ray, Director of Mental Health for the DOC.  "[Previously], there was no psychological testing being performed.  Everyone [has] always [been] screened and given a mental health interview as they come in, but there was no formal, standardized tests."

According to Ray, the personality test the students use, the MCMI 3, paints a clearer picture of the degree to which an inmate may be experiencing a mental health problem.

"It's kind of a diagnostic tool to help us understand the degree that they are depressed or the degree that they may be anxious or the degree they maybe sedisitic or a psychopath," Ray said.  "It will give us some insight into personality functioning."

Likewise, the intelligence test, the Gamma, helps the DOC assess an inmate's intelligence level.

"[By using these tests], you will get a more complete picture of the person so you can direct them to the facility that may best be able to serve their needs," Ray said, explaining that male inmates with severe mental health problems, for example, would be sent to Dixon, which is the psychiatric facility for men, rather than sent to the general inmate population.  "That way we can make sure we're channeling people in the right direction."

Better Treatment

While personality and intelligence tests are not currently being administered regularly to every inmate, the eventual goal is to make the practice standard for everyone coming into the system -- an outcome that would not be possible without the help of Argosy students.  While this type of testing helps the DOC place inmates in appropriate treatment programs, it also provides the students with practical experience.

"They get specific [classroom] training in test instruments [and] now [they] actually administer the tests," Robinson said.

But, the students do more than just test the inmates during intake and classification; they also get experience treating the offenders.  According to Ray, Argosy students, under supervision from licensed clinical psychologists, run various groups for inmates, including anger management, grief management, sex offender and mental health support groups.  They also assist in crisis management.

"They get a very wide example in their training years of being able to see a lot of different diagnoses," said Ray.

Creating Corrections Professionals

Ray, who did her own student training with the Illinois DOC, hopes that exposing students to correctional mental health care will lead to them eventually working in correctional facilities.

"We're really preparing people to work in this unique field where there is such a great need," Ray said.  "[The partnership] is certainly a way of training professionals and investing in them and their professional growth and hoping that they will continue to make contributions to this area."

Reducing Recidivism

Aside from molding psychology professionals for corrections, the program is also a way of ensuring that inmates are being diagnosed correctly and receiving the care they need to remain stable, even after they are released from incarceration.

"It's incredible because when you are able to diagnose correctly--again, that is why we are putting money into this in the front end--then you can treat correctly and when people are treated correctly they have a lot less problems," Ray said.  "[They] can adjust to the correctional setting [and] can learn more about their illness.  We want to continue that into the community so that they are able to remain in the community."

Robinson agrees that another major goal of the program is to release healthier individuals back into society.

"Hopefully, when they are released, they are going to be in a better place than when they came in," he said.

While the program is still in its infancy, both the DOC and Argosy hope that over the three-year duration of their contract, they will be able to begin testing everyone coming through the door for mental health problems, which will enable the DOC to effectively treat inmates and send people back into the community with a decreased likelihood of reoffense.

With those results, the training program becomes invaluable.

"I don't know how they would be able to do this without the training program," Robinson said.  "They have a need.  We have a need," said Robinson.  "It comes out a win-win."

Resources:

To contact Tracy Robinson, call (847) 290-7025 ext. 107

To contact Amy Ray, call the Illinois DOC (217) 522-2666 ext. 2008