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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2001;285:2703-2704.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Las Vegas, Nev—Corrections officers in US jails and prisons typically use punishment as a means of controlling the behavior of mentally ill inmates with aggressive and disciplinary problems. This approach tends to be ineffective, creating ever-increasing tensions among inmates, officers, and health care workers in a corrections facility.

Photo credit: Corbis Images

An approach by the Connecticut Department of Correction appears to counter that escalation, giving inmates who have been diagnosed with various mental illnesses and who exhibit aggressive behavior with disciplinary problems the coping skills and medications needed to live in more general corrections populations.

At a presentation before the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and the Academy of Correctional Health Professionals last month, health care workers presented an overview of the Connecticut treatment program. They also presented a preliminary outcomes study detailing its success.

The cornerstone of the program is the Intensive Mental Health . . . [Full Text of this Article]