A UMass Medical School expert on mental health for incarcerated populations has co-edited a soon-to-be-released textbook on correctional psychiatry to help improve the quality of care provided to inmates.
The Oxford Textbook of Correctional Psychiatry will be the first comprehensive resource on criminal justice mental health issues, said co-editor Kenneth L. Appelbaum, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry and director of correctional mental health policy and research at the Center for Health Policy and Research, a unit within UMass Medical School's Commonwealth Medicine division. The textbook is available for pre-order and will be released in print on March 26.
The book is a thorough overview of the field of correctional psychiatry that encompasses 14 broad content areas and includes a resource guide in correctional mental health care.
“It is a resource we hope will enhance the quality of care inmates with mental illness will receive,” Dr. Appelbaum said.
The Oxford University Press contacted Appelbaum in January 2013 and asked for his expertise in publishing a textbook on correctional psychiatry. The textbook was edited by Appelbaum; Robert L. Trestman, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, psychiatry and nursing at UConn Health Care; and Jeffrey L. Metzner, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver. Appelbaum, Dr. Trestman and Dr. Metzner brainstormed topics for the textbook, wrote many of the chapters, and recruited top professionals, both nationally and internationally, who were most qualified to write about the remaining subjects.
A unique skill set is needed to practice correctional psychiatry, Appelbaum said. During the past 10 to 20 years, medical organizations have increasingly recognized the importance of study in the area of correctional mental health care. UMass Medical School has been in the forefront of increasing that recognition through its health and criminal justice program. The program manages contracts that provide health services to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ federal medical centers in Devens, Mass., and Butner, NC, as well as its federal correctional institutions in Ray Brook, NY, and Berlin, NH. It also runs the annual Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health. The next conference is March 19 in Boston.
“The textbook will serve as a blueprint for people trying to design and fund mental health services in a correctional setting,” Appelbaum said.
