House Bill 3268 Position:
As the bill summary indicates, this bill addresses the mental health needs of those incarcerated in Massachusetts prisons and jails. It would require screenings for all inmates, and a level of mental health care equivalent to that given in the community.

The mentally ill have largely been deinstitutionalized over the past twenty years. Many people with mental health problems that would not require institutionalization nonetheless also cannot get treatment because of a lack of insurance coverage to pay for it. Many of these people end up going afoul of the law as a result of their mental health needs. Instead of mental health institutions, our prison system is now the leading custodian of those with mental health needs in Massachusetts.

This bill would ensure that those who need mental health care have access to it, and would provide a medical record of that illness to be carried with the person after his or her sentence. Prison conditions tend to exacerbate mental health problems. Exacerbated mental health problems tend to lead to more societal problems for those with those problems. To the extent that those with mental health needs have those needs identified and treated, we can reduce the number of those people that break the law in the future.

The prohibition in this bill that anyone with mental illness not be sentenced to solitary confinement was recently amended by Rep. Simmons to read "unless deemed medically necessary by medical personnel." Hopefully, if this bill passes, this provision will not be used as a loophole by prison and jail officials to simply send who they want to solitary.

The CJPC strongly supports this bill. Whatever its cost, it will be money well spent.