What is it actually like to try to provide mental health treatment inside a correctional facility?
Providing effective psychiatric care in a maximum-security prison is extraordinarily difficult. The work can be very frightening at times because of the inherent danger, and it can also be somewhat demoralizing because of the circumstances which the patients and the staff find themselves in. I think it takes a tremendous amount more concentration, perseverance and dedication than in a community setting, because there’s so many obstacles and barriers to treatment and because you’re working with the sickest patients that many times don’t really want your help. But at the same time, as a mental health professional, you’re not on top of the hierarchy in terms of who’s important in the prison. Security runs the prison, and we have to work within those constraints. So I’d say it’s a very, very difficult, demanding job. So let’s really unpack that in some depth. OK. I think the first thing that people should realize is that the prison doesn’t exist to provide mental health treatment, and beca
