Supermax Prisons and the Constitution: Liability ... - Supermaxed

25Wisconsin corrections officials had developed■Quality assurance. Consider developing aa screening tool, but the court was very criticalof how the tool was applied. Should anagency attempt to rely entirely on a standardizedscreening instrument? Or should it com-quality assurance system or audit processas a strategy for addressing legal challengesto screening and monitoring procedures.Wisconsin’s litigation experience suggests theMental Healthbine standardized screening with professionalwisdom of this approach. A reviewing courtexamination, at one or more levels, of eachmay find such efforts more credible if theyinmate considered for transfer to the ECU,involve persons from outside the correctionstogether with a final examination at admis-department.sion? The best approach has yet to be defined.■Mental health care. Provide ongoing diagno-■Monitoring. Implement a process for con-sis and treatment for mental health condi-stantly monitoring the mental status oftions. This is the “standard” level of serviceECU inmates and criteria for determiningexpected in any prison, and clearly a require-when transfer out of the unit is warranted.ment in the ECU.Wisconsin attempted to do this, but the courtcharacterized its efforts as “little more thanband-aids to the potentially detrimental conditionsto which defendants are subjectingmentally ill inmates.” 47■Staffing. Maintain staffing levels in accordancewith the services to be provided.Operating an ECU mental health programshort-handed is an invitation to litigation andcourt intervention.■Removal. Implement a process for transferringinmates out of the ECU if they meet themonitoring system’s criteria for removal. Thisrequires, among other things, a place to sendsuch inmates. Agencies should seek legaladvice on whether a Vitek hearing must■Medication. Be aware of legal constraintsconcerning involuntary medication, and haveprocedures in place for medicating inmateswhose serious mental illness presents a threatto themselves and others.accompany such transfer decisions.47Jones’El, 164 F. Supp. 2d at 1122.