INPATIENT MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

The North Carolina Department of Correction maintains a 144-bed comprehensive inpatient mental health facility for the treatment of male inmates with serious acute mental illnesses. This facility is an accredited 24-hour comprehensive care unit located at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina. Services provided include pychotropic medications, individual and group psychotherapy, activity and rehabilitation therapy, and mental health nursing services. Once an inmate's mental disorder is stabilized and he is no longer dangerous to himself or others in the prison population, the inmate may be transferred back to his regular prison unit for outpatient follow-up. Inmates requiring an intermediate level of inpatient care are transferred to a long-term residential mental health facility for the treatment of chronic mental illnesses. Some inmates with long-standing mental illness or a developmental disabilty who require frequent mental health intervention and programming but are able to function within the general prison population may be transferred to a day training program similar to a sheltered workshop or day treatment program in the community. Inmates who are deemed to be seriously mentally ill and who may pose a significant danger to society or to themselves but who have otherwise served their entire sentence are referred for involuntary commitment to the state hospital system prior to the release into the commmunity.

Female inmates with serious acute mental disorders are housed in the inpatient mental health facility at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, also located in Raleigh, North Carolina. This facility is a 26-bed comprehensive evaluation and treatment unit located within the NCCIW complex and provides the full range of psychiatric and psychological services. Outpatient, day training, and residential services are provided for female inmates similar to those provided to male inmates.

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