Money will provide better mental health meds to keep Mahoning inmates stabilized

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County Mental Health Board has allocated $30,000 through June 30 to pay for psychotropic medications to maintain continuity of care for inmates at the Mahoning County Justice Center with mental-health diagnoses.

Psychotropic medications are prescribed by psychiatrists for the treatment of mental and emotional problems.

Continuity of care is not always possible because the justice center’s formulary — the list of medications it uses — may not be an exact match to those prescribed for the inmates before incarceration, said Duane Piccirilli, Mahoning County Mental Health Board executive director.

“Treatment works, and being able to maintain inmates on the same formulary during incarceration helps maintain their mental health while in jail and when they are released and restored to the community,” Piccirilli said.

About 25 percent of the justice center’s average population of 500 to 600 inmates have major mental-health diagnoses and are seen by a psychiatrist while incarcerated, said Maj. Alki Santamas, justice center administrator.

Piccirilli and William Carbonell, director of clinical programs and evaluation at the county mental-health board, said the use of atypical drugs — newer, more expensive, high-end medications, is important for continuity of care for inmates.

From an inside perspective, Santamas said he believes continuity of care is beneficial to the inmates while they are in jail and when they transition back to the community.

“When a mental-health patient comes into our care, we examine their mental-health history and get them back on or maintain a regulated medication protocol to keep them stabilized during their incarceration,” Santamas said.

But sometimes, he said, the justice center’s formulary doesn’t have the exact medications they were using before incarceration, which interrupts their continuity of care, he said.

The justice center will be able to draw down on the money made available through the mental-health board to purchase the high-end medications that it doesn’t have from a central pharmacy to better keep inmates who need them stabilized and functional, Santamas said.

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