Feds: Prison misused solitary

Associated Press

HARRISBURG

The administration of Gov. Tom Corbett says it’s been working to improve the mental-health system in state prisons.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Susan McNaughton responded Friday night to a U.S. Justice Department investigation that concluded a state prison in western Pennsylvania kept inmates with serious mental illness in solitary confinement for months or even years at a time.

McNaughton says Corbett’s corrections secretary, John Wetzel, identified the mental-health system as needing improvement early in the governor’s tenure.

She says the staff has been trained in crisis intervention for mentally ill offenders, and that a new policy will place seriously mentally ill inmates in treatment when they first enter the system, among other improvements.