May 4, 2001

Honorable Susan C. Tucker

Chair, Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs

State House, Room 416-A

Boston, MA 02133

Honorable Antonio F. D. Cabral

Chair, Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs

State House, Room 26

Boston, MA 02133

Dear Senator Tucker and Representative Cabral:

On behalf of the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee (MHLAC), I write to urge you to support H. 3344, An Act Concerning Mental Health. This bill would improve mental health services in both county and state correctional facilities by requiring these facilities to provide mental health screening and assessment of all inmates. The bill would further provide sufficient numbers of mental health professionals so that inmates have access to mental health services comparable to the general public.

MHLAC has highlighted the need for this bill in our legal journal. James Pingeon, Forgotten Lives: Mentally Disordered Prisoners in Massachusetts, Advisor 12 (Fall/Winter 1997) (enclosed). Although there have been some improvements since the Salvi Report brought to light the inadequacies of mental health services for inmates, there remains a strong need for this legislation. Some standards for mental health care have been incorporated into contractual language, but these standards only apply to state correctional facilities. County facilities are not covered and have seen no improvements.

Additionally, even those changes which have been made are not secure. Contractual language is open to change. Further, reliance on contractual language to effect change is further problematic as contracts are only binding on the parties to them.

Finally, the requirements incorporated into state correctional facility contracts are not as comprehensive as those which this legislation would impose.

House 3344 is a reasonable response to a problem which is growing nationally and in Massachusetts.. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, as of 1998, nearly 1 in 6 inmates of state prison and local jails reported either a mental condition or an overnight stay in a mental hospital. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mental Health and Treatment of Inmates and Probationers (July 1999). In 1997, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health estimated that over 2000 seriously mentally ill people were released from custody.

For the above reasons, we urge you to support this legislation, scheduled for public hearing before your committee on May 8, 2001. Thank you for your consideration.

Very truly yours,

Jennifer Honig

Staff Attorney

Enclosure

cc: Members, Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs