MIDDLESEX COUNTY PRISON COORDINATING COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER
MCPCC met April 13,
2005 in Bedford. Present were Mary Ann Donaldson, Beverly Wilkins, Tom
Crowther, Dorothy Weitzman, Bill Bergquist, Kathy Reboul, Anne Curran and
Marjorie Moerschner. We were very glad to have with us as well Lois Pulliam and
Christopher Busby, representing the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and
Toby Frost representing the League of Women Voters and Concord Prison Outreach.
Drew Crawford and Al Curtis, representing the Middlesex Sheriff's office were
our guest speakers. Their subject: the regional psychiatric Evaluation and
Stabilization Unit (ESU) at Billerica House of Correction. Drew, a licensed
social worker, has been part of the staff at Billerica for fifteen years in various
capacities. Al is a psychologist. Both men are now on the staff of the new
unit.
As a result
of urging by several sheriffs including Sheriff DiPaola, approximately
$2,600,000 was appropriated to establish two state psychiatric ESUs to be
housed at county Houses of Correction. One was established at Hampden County,
the other, to serve eastern Massachusetts, at Billerica HOC. This unit opened
on Jan. 18. It is under the overall supervision of Dr. George Gallitano,
Director of Health Services at the Billerica; Dawn Paige,RN, is the ESU
director. Dr. Veliz, the HOC psychiatrist is on the unit one evening a week and
on Saturdays; he's always on call if there is an emergency. There are usually
three mental health workers per shift, with a nurse in charge of each shift.
The unit is intended to provide a safe place for prison or jail men with
serious mental health issues. They will accept just about anyone in crisis
except the very violent. The maximum stay is 14 days.
Since
the unit is still sharing space in the old building with the regular prison
health services they are limited to only about 6 beds. When they move to the
new building- in June they hope- they will have room for up to 15 men. At
present they have a quiet or isolation room, three private rooms and share an 8
bed ward with prison health services. The ESU is intended to take referrals
from all county HOCs east of Worcester but with limited space they've so far
been able to take only two outside referrals, both from Norfolk. As of April
12, the unit has served 23 men from the MDX HOC and 1 from NFK HOC as well as
11 pretrial men, one from Dedham and
the rest from Cambridge. Three of these men were eventually sent to Bridgewater
for further treatment. All 35 would likely have gone there without the ESU.
Referrals to
the unit can be by most anybody connected with a county facility: correction
officers, nurses, doctors, even family members. No judge's order is necessary.
Men brought to the ESU are usually seen and evaluated by either Drew or Al. A
mental health worker speaks Spanish which has been helpful.
Men in the
unit receive both group and individual counseling every day. Most are put on
appropriate medications. The most common diagnosis is major depression,
followed by bipolar disorder. Some are suicidal. Most have a history of mental
problems on the outside. Most also have substance abuse issues. Group meetings
deal with issues like anger management, anxiety and depression. Each man meets
every day with the psychologist or the social worker. Each man also has an
informal short chat each day on each of the 2 waking shifts with an assigned
mental health worker. The only recreation available is reading; Drew brings
books over from the prison library once a week. This is a very intensive
program and the men are busy most of the time. Arrangements are made for
ongoing treatment when the men return to the general prison population.
If an inmate
had previous contact with the Dept of Mental Health a representative will
interview him a few days before he is released. Unfortunately due to funding
cutbacks the DMH is not meeting the needs of most of the mentally ill.
The ESU is a
hopeful way of treating the problem of people with mental illness who are in
prison mainly because there is no other place for them. Ideally, in future each
county prison will have such a unit.
Many thanks
to Drew Crawford and Al Curtis for an excellent presentation!
In May we’ll hear about a parenting class at Billerica from its leader, Morton Silverman.