Jail officials across Pa. sound alarm as mental health crisis puts people at risk, survey finds

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Jail officials across Pa. sound alarm as mental health crisis puts people at risk, survey finds
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A statewide survey of county jails by Spotlight PA and the Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism revealed many facilities admit they are not equipped for the growing mental health crisis.

County jails across Pennsylvania lack the resources to address a growing mental health crisis, putting some of the most vulnerable incarcerated people at heightened risk, according to a statewide survey by Spotlight PA and the Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism.

District Attorney Peter Acker serves as president of the prison board in Mercer County, where he said nearly half of the people incarcerated in the local jail are taking psychiatric medication. But other facilities told Spotlight PA and PINJ they have had difficulty achieving even that level of care.

Officials in nearby Chester County said they train staff to recognize the difference between “willful disobedience and the inability to follow rules due to mental status.” The Philadelphia Department of Prisons, for example, runs four jails housing 4,400 people and employs about 325 clinical staff, “a third of whom are behavioral health clinicians,” said Bruce Herdman, chief of medical operations.

“Our facility is suffering like most facilities: Staff are hard to find and keep,” wrote Westmoreland County Commissioner Douglas Chew, who also chairs the county prison board.

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