The special master appointed by the court to investigate conditions for mentally ill inmates in California prisons has found inadequate treatment and staffing shortages. Only one of six facilities reviewed was found to meet patients' needs. The special master's proposed reforms are intended to limit the use of isolation and pepper spraying of mentally ill inmates and improve treatment, which could help reduce the state's high recidivism rate of 65% within three years of release. The state legislature is also considering bills to improve mental health treatment during and after incarceration to lower recidivism.

1. Katherine Evans
Final Story
June 10, 2014
Today the California court-appointed special master finishes revising policy to improve
conditions for mentally ill inmates and to decrease reoffending. The special master is adhering
to the recent ruling that California’s mentally ill prisoners are being treated unconstitutionally.
Sacramento District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled April 10 that the state’s excessive use
of pepper spray and isolation was unconstitutional. Karlton appointed special master Matthew
Lopes to investigate and devise more humane alternatives.
Lopes reported inadequate and understaffed treatment of seriously mental ill prisoners. Within
two state psychiatric hospitals and four psychiatric units in state prisons, for instance, Lopes
found that only one program, the California Institution for Women, satisfied patients’ needs.
Atascadero State Hospital took the blunt of Lopes’ criticism, where one mentally ill prisoner
allegedly murdered another patient the week of Lopes’ investigation. Lopes also condemned
Atascadero hospital for discharging prisoners based on the length of their stay rather than their
mental status. Another prisoner was sent here for attempting to commit suicide after the death of
his son. However, instead of grief counseling, the hospital assigned the man to drug and anger
management counseling. This inmate had no history of substance abuse or aggression.

2. Three prisons faced staff shortages. To compensate, Atascadero administered psychiatric duties
to unqualified employees. At Salinas Valley psychiatric hospital, half of the psychologists and
social workers were unlicensed.
Another prison’s “group therapy” consisted of magazine lending. “The majority of the inmates
who participate in these self help programs and parole do eventually come back into the prison
system,” commented Salinas Valley State Prison officer Kenny Melton.
Still, Deputy Public Defender of Mental Health Court, Jennifer Bedolla reports that Lopes’
proposal for more constitutionally- approved treatment of mentally ill prisoners, “is pretty early
in the process of being approved.”
Karlton ordered the report after the release of videotapes of prison guards pumping significant
amounts of pepper spray into the cells of mentally ill prisoners, some of whom were heard
screaming.
“Punitive punishment, such as pepper spraying, might promote desired behavior for a short
while, but studies show that such torture in the long-term has negative consequences such as
resentment, anger and aggression. This is not to mention ethical issues. The way to change
behavior is through positive reinforcement,” stated Dr. Thomas Plante, Psychology Professor at
Santa Clara University and a Clinical Psychologist.

3. Karlton also ruled in favor of inmates’ attorneys who argued that prolonged solitary confinement
is unconstitutional. The judge agreed that isolation frequently exacerbates mental illness and
contributes to inducement of psychosis and increased risk of suicide.
“Isolation might be necessary if an individual is dangerous, but should not be used as
punishment,” confirmed Dr. Plante.
Karlton gave the state 60 days until today, to work with a court-appointed special master to
decide better methods that will limit pepper spraying and isolation. These policy changes will
affect approximately 33,000 mentally ill prisoners, who account for 28 percent of the 120,000
inmates in the major prisons in California.
Prison officer Melton remarks that the treatment of mentally ill prisoners, “is the best it can be.
We currently have a mental health building right next to my housing unit which facilitates self
help/therapy groups five days a week, 9 am-4 pm.”
Regardless, Karlton called for the process of reforming treatment for mentally ill prisoners,
which has some overlap with a bill that the Senate is currently revising. The goal of the
Recidivism Reduction and Public Safety Act of 2014 is to reduce the majority of mentally ill
prisoners who reoffend.
The bill directs assessment of recidivism, or reoffending, risk factors of prisoners and
implementation of empirical-based recidivism reduction programs. Successful participation in

4. programs would reduce incarceration by less than 60 days. More effective methods for released
prisoners’ reentry into society must be established and evaluated. This includes the impact of
reentry of inmates on communities in which a disproportionate number of released individuals
reside. Correction officer Melton says the reason the majority of inmates reoffend is that, “Most
inmates go right back to the neighborhoods that they were from.”
A similar proposed bill is designed to improve mental health services for released prisoners in
order to lower recidivism rates. The Recidivism Reduction Act introduced last year, desires to
restore federal disability and health benefits, such as Medicaid and medications, upon immediate
release of prisoners. Mentally ill inmates’ SSI benefits end after one year of consecutive
incarceration and before this law it took an average 93 days to reinstate SSI and Medicaid
benefits. Previously, inmates were released with only a two-week supply of medications and
with little to no follow-up care. However, prompt access to federal health coverage and income
support is intended to combat recidivism and to enhance the safety of the community where
individuals are released.
Public defender Bedolla supports this new bill, but hopes that it will take released transients’
situation into consideration. She reports that a significant number of released mentally ill clients
become homeless. “They often fall through the cracks, because when they are no longer on
parole it is very hard for them to get resources and then they are back in custody.”
Still, the former legislation not only supports prisoners’ human rights but also intends to decrease
high recidivism rates in California and therefore increase public safety. Sixty-five percent of

5. released inmates return to prison within three years, according to the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation in 2011. This recidivism rate costs approximately $ 9.6 billion ,
or 10 percent of the total California budget, as reported by the 2011 California Budget Project.
#
Document Sources
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. 2011 Adult Institutions Outcome Evaluation
Report. Comp. Lee Seale. Sacramento: Office of Research, Research and Evaluation
Branch, 2011. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Web. 21 May
2014.
<http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research_Branch/Research_Documents/ARB_FY_0607
_Recidivism_Report_(11-23-11). pdf>.
Farley, Rebecca. "Recidivism Reduction Act Aims to Speed Reinstatement of Medicaid/SSI
Upon Release From Incarceration." National Council for Behavioral Health. N.p., 29
Sept. 2013. Web. 21 May 2014. <http://www.thenationalcouncil.org/capitol-
connector/2013/09/recidivism-reduction-act-aims-to-speed-reinstatement-of-medicaidssi-
upon-release-from-incarceration/>.
Graves, Scott. Where Do California's Tax Dollars Go? N.p.: n.p., 2011. California Budget
Project.Web. 21 May 2014.
<http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2011/110728_Where_Do_State_Tax_Dollars_Go_pb.pdf>.
"S.1675 - Recidivism Reduction and Public Safety Act of 2014." Congress.gov. Library of
Congress, n.d. Web. 1 June 2014. <http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-
bill/3123?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22recidivism+reduction+act%22%5D%7D

6. >.
"H.R.3123 - Recidivism Reduction Act." Congress.gov. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 1 June
2014. <http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-
bill/3123?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22recidivism+reduction+act%22%5D%7D
>.
John, Paige St. "Report faults prison care of state's mentally ill inmates." Los Angeles Times
[Sacramento] 30 May 2014: n. pag. Los Angeles Times. Web. 3 June 2014.
<http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-pol-ff-prisons-20140531-story.html>.
Thompson, Don. "Judge: California mistreating mentally ill inmates." The Sacramento Bee
[Sacramento] 10 Apr. 2014: n. pag. sacbee.com. Web. 27 May 2014.
<http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/10/ 6315048/judge-california-mistreating-
mentally.html>.