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[Angrboda]

Federal prisons were told to improve inmates’ access to mental-health care. They’ve failed miserably.
New data reveal an unsettling link between denying inmates treatment for mental health issues and an increase in violence and self-harm in federal prisons.

Current policy states that inmates are supposed to receive monthly or even weekly check-ins with a mental-health professional and be monitored by a team that meets regularly to review treatment plans and progress. Before 2014, there were no such teams, and mental-health staff were required to check in with inmates less frequently.

Patricia Griffin, a former psychologist at the federal prison in Otisville, N.Y., remembers her co-workers dreading the change. “You only have so much time in the day, and suddenly your workload increased pretty dramatically,” she said. Griffin said staff members scrutinized inmates to see whether they could safely lower care levels to decrease their caseloads.

Before the new policy, the inspector general’s report found, psychologists were more likely to increase an inmate’s care level when reviewing their mental-health status. But once the rules changed, they were significantly more likely to downgrade prisoners.