Grand Jury Report Finds Issues With Mental Health Services In Riverside Jails

A grand jury investigation into the treatment of mentally ill inmates in Riverside County jail facilities uncovered a number of problems, including a shortage of psychiatric specialists, lost records and inadequate transition care.

The Board of Supervisors accepted the 19-member grand jury’s findings without comment today and directed the Executive Office to draw up a response in the next 60 days.

The report examined practices and policies at the county’s five jails, where, on average, about one-third of detainees require mental health services.

The sheriff’s department contracts with the Riverside County Regional Medical Center and the county’s Department of Mental Health to provide treatment.

According to the grand jury, the jails are generally not staffed with mental health professionals who can screen an inmate on arrival to determine whether the prisoner is in genuine need of psychiatric care.

The report also found that correctional personnel are sometimes unable to identify a patient, leading to missed treatment opportunities and a heightened risk of “decompensation.”

According to the grand jury, there were indications that inmates who required anti-psychotic drugs to control behavioral disorders missed them because of irregular pill distribution.

Jurors found that when inmates were transferred to state facilities for evaluation or treatment, their information packets were hand-carried, resulting in documents being lost.

One of the panel’s key concerns was the lack of available psychiatric staff “to identify and treat in an individualized manner those treatable inmates suffering from serious mental disorders.”

The grand jury was also critical of the lack of a formal “treatment facility” within the jail system, and that inmates with psychiatric issues had no option but to disclose their problems to correctional officers, instead of conferring privately with a specialist.

Upon release from jail, psychologically disturbed inmates are sometimes left to their own devices, without direction on where to find assistance, according to the report.

The grand jury made a number of recommendations, beginning with the designation of a treatment facility, which it said could be established in an unused 96-bed health ward at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

According to the grand jury, the county should strengthen policies to ensure mental health evaluations occur within 24 hours of a detainee’s incarceration, and that within 72 hours of booking, a treatment plan be developed for an inmate with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia.

The report said new guidelines should dictate that mentally ill inmates receive medications on a 24-hour basis and that each jail has a mental health specialist available day or night.

According to the grand jury, discharge planning should be part of each mentally ill inmate’s release, with county personnel arranging for “medications and therapy,” as well as helping with “housing, government benefits assistance (and) employment opportunities.”