Levels of care

Abstract There is a continuum of care for incarcerated persons (IPs) with mental illness in correctional settings, which includes outpatient care, emergency services, day treatment, supportive residential housing, infirmary care, and inpatient psychiatric hospitalization services. Outpatient treatment, in some systems, may include a day treatment program. IPs receiving outpatient treatment live in a general population housing unit with other IPs, many of whom are not in need of mental health services. A residential program (i.e., housing unit) within the correctional setting is provided for IPs with chronic mental illness who do not require inpatient treatment but do require enhanced mental health services. Crisis intervention services include both brief counseling and supervised stabilization. The latter, often provided in an infirmary setting, serves short-term stabilization and/or diagnostic purposes. A psychiatric inpatient program is often provided by the state psychiatric hospital system. This chapter describes each level of care.