Assignment Details

Scenario: You are a team leader in a clinic inside of a medium-security state prison. Many of the inmates have been diagnosed with brain disorders, and the attending prison physicians have indicated medications that the prisoners must take while incarcerated in the facility. A state legislator visiting the prison has been advised of this program forcing inmates to take medications to treat their mental illnesses and is concerned about the reasons this is being done against the inmates’ will. The legislator asks for a meeting with members of the prison clinic, and you are tasked to explain the reasoning for the forced medication program. The following are questions being asked by the legislator that need to be addressed:

• Why are diagnosed mental health problem inmates being held in a jail-type facility?
• What is the reason the inmates are being given the drugs?
• How can the prison clinic be forcing inmates to take the drugs against their will?