Oregon Tackles Mental Health At New Prison
The Oregon Department of Corrections is planning to build a new prison near Junction City in which, officials say, severely mentally ill inmates would be dealt with far differently than has been possible before. As reported by the Register-Guard:
The 1,262-bed medium-security lockup just south of town would include 462 beds for mentally ill inmates — double the number at any of Oregon’s existing 13 state prisons. In addition, the proposed Junction City men’s prison would house up to 214 physically ailing, impaired and aging inmates. The medium-security prison is planned to open in 2014. It would follow construction of a 532-bed men’s minimum-security prison as part of the same correctional complex, due to open in 2012. Both are contingent on the 2009 Legislature’s approval of $350 million or more of bonds to pay for construction …
Never before has Oregon — nor, do its corrections officials believe, any other state — set out to build a prison that would primarily house inmates with serious medical and mental health needs …
Nationally, the cost of incarcerating an elderly inmate is three times that of a regular one, according to the National Institute of Corrections. Many of them are so impaired that they’re unable to climb stairs, clamber onto an upper bunk bed, or move around without the assistance of walkers or wheelchairs, said William Hoefel, health services administrator at the Oregon Department of Corrections. Williams said even middle-aged inmates present a medical burden on prisons. “A lot of these guys have done really horrible things to their bodies and preventative health care has not been high on their lists,” he said. “So a 50-year-old presents a lot more like a 70-year-old, for the purposes of the level of medical care we’re required to provide.”
The full article at the Register-Guard is long and detailed and worth the read.
Aging Population, Inmate Health, Mental Health Issues, Oregon