From the outside, Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center looks like a maximum security prison. Inside, more than 300 men live there, committed there by juries and judges throughout the state as “sexually violent persons.” The challenge, for staff, is to treat and reintegrate them into communities.
Tag: mental health
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
Photos: Inside Sand Ridge, where the sexually violent are treated
Center reporter Nora Hertel and Wisconsin Public Radio reporter Gilman Halsted were the first journalists since 2007 to tour Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center, the Mauston facility that houses sex offenders who have been committed to the state.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
Photos: Inside Sand Ridge, where the sexually violent are treated
Center reporter Nora Hertel and Wisconsin Public Radio reporter Gilman Halsted were the first journalists since 2007 to tour Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center, the Mauston facility that houses sex offenders who have been committed to the state.
Posted inGovernment, Health & Welfare, Justice & Safety, Rethinking Sex Offenders
Wisconsin freeing more sex offenders from mental lockup
Wisconsin officials have nearly quadrupled the number of offenders released from state custody after they were committed as sexually violent persons. The risks to residents are reasonable, officials say, because the state’s treatment programs are working and new data suggest these offenders are less likely to reoffend than previously thought.
Posted inGovernment, Health & Welfare, Justice & Safety
Mentally ill ex-inmates lack treatment, meds
Despite the wake-up call sounded nationwide by recent mass shootings, huge gaps remain in how Wisconsin treats people with mental illnesses who run afoul of the law. State and county officials blame a shortage of psychiatrists, growing demand for services and high medication costs.
Posted inWisWatch Blog
Report: Illinois county jail inspections go unenforced
Last year, the Center’s Rory Linnane, Tegan Wendland and Kate Golden leafed through hundreds of pages of Wisconsin county jail inspections, examining the quality of mental health care. A new report from the Center’s collaborators at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that state’s jail inspection system is also riddled with problems.
Posted inNews about Wisconsin Watch
Center, UW-Madison journalism school share role in IRE honor
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication played major roles in a project named a finalist in the Investigative Reporters and Editors awards, which were announced today.
Posted inHealth & Welfare, Justice & Safety
Gaps remain in jails’ suicide prevention
Since 2003, 52 Wisconsin county jail inmates have taken their own lives. Department of Corrections jail inspector Nancy Thelen said that generally, Wisconsin’s 72 county-run jails are doing “a very good job with their suicide watches.”
But a Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism review of the counties’ most recent jail inspection records found that at least one-third of them had, like Monroe County, been cited for problems with their suicide prevention efforts.
Posted inHealth & Welfare, Justice & Safety
Ignored and underfunded, mental health care thin at county jails
Key findings:
• Wisconsin’s county-run jails are overloaded with people with mental illness — but services are largely inadequate.
• The state Department of Corrections is charged with oversight but does not evaluate the quality of jails’ mental health care.
• For nearly a quarter-century, the Legislature has required the DOC to collect and summarize annual reports on jails’ mental health care, but most jails have not provided the information, and the DOC acknowledges it has not been asking for them.
• One-third of Wisconsin’s jails have been cited for inadequate suicide prevention efforts.
Posted inEconomy, Government, Health & Welfare
Adding insult to injury
Job-seeking veterans work to overcome the disadvantages posed by the stigma of disability — whether or not they are disabled.
Posted inEconomy, Government, Health & Welfare
Resources for veterans
A number of organizations, including Wisconsin Employment Resource Connection, Dryhootch and Disabled American Veterans, provide job assistance and support for Wisconsin’s veterans.
Posted inEducation, Health & Welfare
Key findings: Mental health services at UW System campuses
More UW students are seeking mental health care, but not all campuses have enough staff to take care of them. Key findings from a the Center’s collaborative project with a UW-Madison journalism class.