Restrictive Housing and Wellness Checks Webinar Series

Wellness Checks in Restrictive Housing: Correctional Operations

When an inmate is placed into restrictive housing, (commonly referred to as "solitary confinement"), their ability to care for themselves in terms of basic necessities is highly limited. As such, there are standards that correctional and medical personnel must follow regarding observation and physical/psychological well-being checks on this population.

In this 30-min presentation Correctional Operations Expert, Paul Adee, will explore the role of wellness checks in restrictive housing, and how they factor into forensic investigations of inmate deaths and injuries.

Transcript Excerpt

Monitoring the inmates is probably the most important role correctional officers assume in regarding suicide prevention and response thereto.

Let's talk about the officer's responsibilities.

Checks are supposed to be conducted within within fifteen to thirty minute intervals depending upon the circumstances.

They are to be conducted in a staggered and unpredictable manner. This is to keep the inmates guessing on when the officer is going to appear in an effort to limit or reduce suicide attempts, rule violations, and anything else the the inmate shouldn't be doing.

When observing the inmates, officers are ensuring the inmate is alive and breathing, not injured or attempting to injure themselves. They should take notice if the inmate is in some form of physical or mental health crisis or if their overall condition is deteriorating.

Observing the condition of the inmate cell is also part of this process. Officers must report abnormalities to the appropriate people or entities, meaning their supervisor, medical or mental health professionals, and possibly classification personnel. Officers should document relevant information in the inmate's file and possibly in an incident report depending upon the situation.

Well-being checks are captured manually with pen and paper or electronically utilizing an RFID tag and an and an electronic reporting device similar to a cell phone or a pipe system like most security uses.

What really happens during these checks?

Oftentimes, officers use timers to notify them when to do their checks, making them very predictable.

For those agencies that still utilize pen and paper, double taps tend to occur. This is when officers are are logging two entries during one check, and they're either late they're late on on one check and early on the other, or they conduct drive bys, sometimes without even breaking striders or walking past the inmates cell. These tend to be cursory type checks that are conducted within a few seconds.

Video surveillance footage helps me during my investigations in into these matters because I can actually observe, how they're doing their checks and if they are drive bys or not.

Agencies have an obligation to supervise employees. To that end, let's discuss supervision of staff and inmates in the restrictive housing unit. Supervisors must visit each inmate within the restrictive housing unit each shift and must provide ongoing supervision of their their employees.

They are to ensure that staff are conducting checks as required from a timing standpoint and ensuring that the checks are adequate and meaningful in time and form and not merely a drive by.

When they are observing and talking to the inmates, they should take note to identify if the inmate's physical condition or mental health is deteriorating. They have the same obligation as officers do as it relates to notifying the appropriate personnel if this is the case.

Featuring

Paul M. Adee, CCHP, CCP

Corrections & Security Expert

Paul Adee is a corrections and security expert with over 32 years of experience in correctional and courthouse facilities. Paul applies his expertise to forensic casework involving the… read more.