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Barbara Curtis, MSN, RN, Director of Nursing Service, Washington State Department of Corrections talks about the high prevalence of traumatic brain injury in the correctional patient population and responses to the condition. Barbara has been an RN for over 30 years with 20 of those in emergency services both as administrator and clinician.  She has been wit […]

In this month’s correctional healthcare news round-up Lorry Schoenly talks with regular panelists, Catherine Knox and Sue Smith, about aging and disability issues in correctional healthcare. Catherine is an independent consultant with nursing and leadership experience in the Oregon Department of Corrections, the Washington Department of Corrections, and Cali […]

This episode's guest is Margaret Noonan, Statistician with the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics in Washington DC. She’s the program manager for the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program at BJS. The program began in 2000 with the passage of the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act, which tasked BJS with collecting deaths occurring in jails […]

The February 2012 News Round Up focuses on Mental Health treatment in the correctional setting. Lorry is joined by regular panelist Sue Smith and guest Rosanne Harmon, a Psychiatric Mental Helath Nurse Practitioner with the Oregon Department of Corrections. In early February, MSNBC online reported on a huge jury award - $22 million - to a man held 22 months […]

Communication is a key component of delivering correctional healthcare. Correctional nurses must overcome many communication barriers in order to manage patient care in a jail or prison. Various communication networks are necessary. Nurses must communicate well with other nurses, among the healthcare disciplines and with custody officers to accomplish paiten […]

The correctional health care news from 2011 is discussed by Lorry Schoenly and regular panelists Catherine Knox and Sue Smith, correctional nurses with clinical, education and management experience. Key themes from the previous year were healthcare legal claims, medical cost shifting, medicaid funding potential and transgender treatment. […]

Originally aired December 22, 2011: Jeffrey Keller, MD, FACEP, discusses the thorny issue of self-reported food allergies in the correctional setting. There are many misconceptions about what consitutes a food allergy. In addition, food preferences can be inappropriately identified as an allergy. How should correcitonal nurses sort out food allergies? Dr. Ke […]

Originally aired October 4, 2011: Lorry chats with Kevin Connor, BSN, RN, CCHP, President of the California-Nevada Chapter of the American Correctional Health Services Association about the image of correctional nursing. Kevin is Communicable Diseases Coordinator for the San Bernadino Sheriff's Department and works out of the West Valley Detention Cente […]

Originally aired September 17. 2011: Lorry talks with Dr. Tina Maschi, assistant professor at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service in New York City about her work on behalf of prisoners. She is a 2010 recipient of the competitive Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars Program Award, which is funded by the Harford Foundation and t […]

Originally aired August 28, 3011: A chat with Ann Norman, SEN, RGN, a long time prison nurse now advising the Royal College of Nursing where she assists in the development of policy support for members locally and nationally across the 4 UK countries. In her role she actively support the interests of prisoners and detainee, prison and police custody nursing […]

Recently, I attended the Wisconsin Jail Association’s 2012 conference in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The theme: “Keeping Everyone Safe." Consistent with that concept, I presented a four-hour seminar called “Wake up and Smell the Contraband." One of my goals was to impart the very important message that contraband control enhances safety in correctional f […]

Through the first three parts of this series I covered the creation and history of private corrections and gave voice to both the private corrections industry and to those in opposition of private corrections. As you would anticipate, the passions run fairly strong on both sides. Private corrections providers feel they have become a valuable component and co […]

Public and governmental agencies are well-known for operating in isolated, silo environments. The nature of the daily work and unique challenges often cause leaders to narrow their view of a problem, and not seek solutions beyond the internal, organizational culture. The bigger view, however, often reveals similar challenges among many agencies, often result […]

A C1 member wrote, "The following attachments are of a Cola Pop Can, that was discovered by our search officer. It was found in the refrigerator on one of the units. The contents of the can when found were frozen, which led to the suspicion that it may contain contraband. When X-rayed a teardrop shaped object was noted. Further examination revealed that […]

A group of academics recently put together a report which has just been released by CDCR. This report is entitled "Expert Panel Study of the Inmate Classification Score System." It has been widely reported in the media that the department is seriously considering implementing the recommendations of this panel. This report concludes that many of the […]

When I read the recent article about the Rikers Island Correctional Officer who was sentenced for having sex with an inmate and brokering deals for drugs and cigarettes, I wasn’t surprised. Those of us who have been in the business for more than minute know that this kind of inappropriate behavior is far too common. I am sorry to say, I've seen many a g […]

By Lorry Schoenly Those of us working in corrections have known for some time that our population is aging. Look around most housing units or rec yards and it is clear that the numbers of over-50 inmates are growing. A recent report confirms this, stating that the number of prisoners over age 65 had grown 94 times the rate of the total prison population in j […]

This tactical tip begins a new section on CorrectionsOne that is going to examine incidents that bring into questions what officers have done in specific circumstances. Rather than evaluate the relative merits of the case, we are going to look at the officer safety techniques, tactics, and strategies that affected the outcome. Since I am now retired from the […]

By Dr. Bruce Bayley Introduction In the first segment of this three part series, this article examines some of the research surrounding the primary reason we incarcerate those who violate our laws – punishment. Please keep in mind that these reviews are not position pieces, but simply an overview of the current research that addresses each topic. We are not […]

Three things crossed my path that influenced the writing of this article. First, I was recently asked to develop a class on emotional intelligence for a probation department in Texas. It seemed like an interesting request, not one of the most common topics to train on. So I dived into the assignment a few days ago, beginning to prepare for the day-long cours […]