Psychology and the Prison System

Resource: The National Commission on Correctional Health Care
Print version: page 59

Psychologists working for prisoners' welfare have an ally in the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC), a prison health-care system watchdog group that has accredited prison programs such as inmate care, facility administration, environmental safety, personnel and training, and health care since the 1970s.

The commission is supported by 36 major national corrections, law and health organizations, including APA.

Last year, with funding from Congress through the National Institute of Justice and support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NCCHC issued "The Health Status of Soon-to-be Released Inmates," a two-volume series of papers that shows that thousands of inmates are released each year with undiagnosed or untreated health and mental health problems and that treatment during incarceration would be cost-effective.

For more information, go to www.ncchc.org.