Advocates Concerned About a Looming Mental Health Crisis Inside North Carolina Prisons

Samuel C. Wendt suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. This, he says, is due to military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is incarcerated at Tabor Correctional Facility and still needs mental health care, he said.

Wendt, 43, said in a telephone interview from prison, “From personal experience, I can say that if you can talk about your problems, you become a better person.” It’s not a place to cry, it just isn’t.”

Wendt is not alone. A U.S. Department of Justice report estimates that more than one-third of people in prison have a history of mental illness.

In Tabor City, where Wendt is serving a 26-year sentence for statutory rape, Wendt says there are many people in need of mental health care.

“The need for prisoners’ mental health care cannot be overemphasized,” Wendt said. “And I’m not just talking about myself.”

But according to WUNC interviews with dozens of inmates and advocates, they don’t always get that care. They say restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and current staffing shortages mean prolonged lockdowns and quarantines. This can make it difficult for prisoners to see a psychiatrist. This is also impacting virtual telemedicine appointments.

One way this has become apparent is through self-harm. Last year in North Carolina he had 13 prisoners commit suicide. That’s his highest annual total since at least 1991, according to North Carolina Department of Public Safety data. Overall, he had 3,347 events last year that required a self-harm risk assessment. This is up from his 3,099 in 2019.

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Joseph Williams directs UNC Health’s Corrective Psychiatry Program, which was launched in 2015. The program currently has 15 psychiatrists and offers both face-to-face and telemedicine. Staffing shortages are also affecting telemedicine services, Williams said. There are not enough staff to escort prisoners to designated virtual clinic spaces.

“Some of these inmates no longer have frequent and easy access to mental health providers simply because it involves the movement of incarcerated individuals. Prisons are designed to minimize the spread of the virus. We were really trying to curb it to keep it down,” Williams said.

In 2019, approximately 31% of new inmates were referred to mental health services after initial admission screening, according to Public Security Bureau data. By 2021, it will increase to 47%.

The prison system currently has a 36% vacancy rate for licensed mental health clinicians, according to DPS data. Across the system, the vacancy rate for correctional officers is about 40%. Staff constitute the largest budget item not only for prisons, but for the entire Public Security Service. Prison Custody and Security receives $900 million as state budget, or more than 36% of his overall public safety budget.

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Prison health care and pharmacies are a significant portion of the budget — $288 million. Of that, $41 million goes to mental health. Williams says staffing levels affect both inmate medication assessment and treatment.

“People may not make medication changes quickly enough to deal with worsening mental health symptoms,” Williams said. “And that would lead to worsening mental health.” .”

Advocates call for less prison sentences as a solution

Proponents of prison reform say this is why more prison sentences are being shortened. North Carolina’s prison population has been steadily declining since its peak in 2011, and is now at its lowest point since 1995.

Kristie Puckett-Williams is Associate Director of Engagement and Mobilization for the ACLU in North Carolina. She’s happy to see trends in the population, but the state currently has nearly 30,000 people in prison. She hopes society will provide better programs for those in need. People like her before she spent time in prison and received probation for theft and drug convictions.

“I was a victim of domestic violence. I needed financial help. [Division of Social Services] to take my child away. I was told to lock myself up,” said Puckett-Williams. If I had received those things, imprisonment wouldn’t even be on the table.

Puckett Williams led weeks of protests at the governor’s mansion in downtown Raleigh in December. Although she advocates for various criminal justice reforms, one of her greatest passions is improving living standards inside prisons.

“Humans deserve to be treated like humans,” Puckett-Williams said. “And the conditions inside North Carolina’s prisons and jails and prison system are inhumane. They are torture.”

Department of Corrections officials say they recognize the need for more mental health care. Prison system aims to reduce annual suicide rate by 20% by 2025 in collaboration with Project 2025.

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Lewis Piper, a behavioral health prison warden, says leadership is tackling the issue “head-on”. not by prisoners. This shows that inmates who see mental health providers are less likely to commit suicide, but it also shows that these services are not reaching everyone who needs them. Prison officials encourage inmates to speak up if they have friends who are distressed, according to the report.

“It’s all clues,” Piper said. “Let’s help each other here.”

Some members of the North Carolina legislature have started taking notice. Senator Natalie Murdoch, representing parts of County Durham, introduced legislation in the final session to expand the use of programs that allow the early release of medically vulnerable prisoners.

“If we don’t see this person as a physical threat to our community, why are they still in jail?” Murdoch said.

Her first law won’t apply to many people, but she says it’s a start.

“Especially if you’re older and have family members who say they’re happy to have loved ones in their homes. They can be monitored in a number of ways,” Murdoch said.

This exact scenario played out just three days before Christmas.

Leroy Wentzel, who turns 80 in March, pleaded guilty to murdering her sister-in-law’s husband in 1995 and was serving a life sentence. He had health problems, and his daughter Janelle Kaas, who lives in Pennsylvania, began appealing to the parole board for his release. Late last year, the board agreed. One rainy day in December, Wenzel was walking home with his daughter.

“When I walked through the gate, my daughter was standing and already crying,” said Wenzel. “And then we grabbed each other and hugged and kissed, and we still do it today.

Proponents say they want this kind of liberation effort to scale up. They say it will not only benefit those who have been released, but it will also help alleviate problems caused by staffing shortages, including lack of access to mental health care.