The reviews released Tuesday found employees failed to properly monitor those at risk of suicide, and the impact is illustrated in several examples of self harm, with one person taking their own life.
Auditors said a psychiatrist who assisted in the audit process concluded “inmates are often abandoned” because of a lack of consistent follow-up in care. They also recorded examples of some getting the wrong psychiatric medications and others missing doses.
Together, the two wide-ranging reviews totaled more than 160 pages, with one warning of “significant deficiencies and critical issues in need of immediate action.”
One review focused on the Division of Correctional Health Services under Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services, and the other on the Utah Department of Corrections.
The reports come three years after the prison relocated from Draper to Salt Lake City, with a new design that state leaders and prison officials described as “humane,” with a focus on rehabilitation and therapy.
Auditors recommended that the division design a suicide prevention program and a process to review prescriptions, that the agencies collaborate and revise their policies and procedures, and that the prison ensures officers are adequately supervising inmates.
Stacey Bank, executive medical director for the Department of Health and Human Services, told legislative leaders on an audit review panel Tuesday that the agency has already developed new procedures on suicide. It has brought on two psychiatry fellows from the University of Utah who have helped provide more clinical oversight, she said.
Bank said there hasn’t been a suicide at the prison in over a year, “an outcome that reflects focused prevention, better integration and a patient-centered approach.”
The Utah Department of Corrections is also already at work on many of the recommendations, added deputy executive director Rebecca Brown.
“Our plan of action really centers on policy revision, enhanced supervision, improved coordination, and formalizing best practices between security and safety,” Brown told the panel.
Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, said some of the audit’s findings were red flags and brought up questions about the staffing the prison needs to make sure it’s getting prescriptions and other issues right when it comes to mental health.
“I want to make sure you have what you need,” Escamilla said. “Some of these mistakes that are in this audit are alarming.”
This report was originally published at UtahNewsDispatch.com.
