Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Criminal Law

: The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

PA considers using closed mental hospitals for prisoners

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

State considers plan to transfer prison inmates Published: January 24, 2010 HARRISBURG - Turning closed or partially-used state mental hospitals into state prisons to hold inmates with mental health issues is an idea being kicked around by House lawmakers. The House Judiciary Committee is exploring whether it makes sense to transfer an estimated 20 percent of the 51,000 state prison inmates with mental health issues from prisons holding a general population to facilities that were once part of an extensive network of state-run institutions for the mentally ill and mentally retarded. Committee members are pursuing this idea as an alternative to the state corrections department's plan to transfer 2,000 non-violent state prison inmates to medium-security prisons in Virginia and Michigan for several years...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on January 25, 2010 (boomark / email).