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| R.I. prison official: Too few social workers to handle inmates' mental health cases |
| By providencejournal.com- Katie Mulvaney |
| Published: 01/27/2017 |
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The director of behavioral health at the state Department of Corrections lamented Thursday that the prison system is functioning as the largest psychiatric hospital and substance treatment facility in Rhode Island, and yet it's staffed with only 11 social workers serving about 3,000 inmates. "That is our staff," Louis Cerbo told the 19-member Special Legislative Commission to Study and Assess the Use of Solitary Confinement in Rhode Island. He estimated that on any given day 400 to 500 inmates in the system are diagnosed as having serious, persistent mental illness. North Dakota's prisons, by comparison, employ 35 social workers to service about 1,850 prisoners, Cerbo said. He expects to hire two more social workers in the coming year as Gov. Gina Raimondo proposed boosting funding for prison mental health services by $410,000 in her state budget plan, he said. But, he and other prison officials agreed that the number of social workers and mental health staff would remain far too few. Read More. |
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