Post by No Money Here on Apr 1, 2009 23:12:07 GMT -5
No new remedies in Mich. prison mental-health care
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A federal judge won't order new remedies in mental-health care in a long-running legal case about Michigan prison conditions.
U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker (YON'-ker) said Tuesday the state has followed court orders on staffing, daily rounds with inmates and coordination between medical and mental-health staff.
The death of a 21-year-old mentally ill inmate in Jackson in 2006 put a spotlight on psychiatric care.
Jonker rejected an effort to force the Corrections Department to add more staff. His ruling came in a decades-old case that began with conditions at Jackson prison, now closed. Lawyers for inmates plan to appeal.
Jonker says the case now centers mostly on inmates temporarily housed at a Jackson facility before going elsewhere.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A federal judge won't order new remedies in mental-health care in a long-running legal case about Michigan prison conditions.
U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker (YON'-ker) said Tuesday the state has followed court orders on staffing, daily rounds with inmates and coordination between medical and mental-health staff.
The death of a 21-year-old mentally ill inmate in Jackson in 2006 put a spotlight on psychiatric care.
Jonker rejected an effort to force the Corrections Department to add more staff. His ruling came in a decades-old case that began with conditions at Jackson prison, now closed. Lawyers for inmates plan to appeal.
Jonker says the case now centers mostly on inmates temporarily housed at a Jackson facility before going elsewhere.