By Nora G. Hertel
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — For Bonnie Richardson, taking her medication is an important part of staying out of trouble.
The 52-year-old Stoughton resident reports being treated for anxiety, attention deficit disorder and bipolar disorder. She has gone to prison twice, for drug trafficking and drunken driving.
But obtaining her prescribed medications is a constant struggle.
“I’m really worried now that I got a doctor, I can’t afford my meds,” said Richardson, who has no permanent address. “Now they want to put me on another mood stabilizer, because I worry.”
Despite the wake-up call sounded nationwide by recent mass shootings, huge gaps remain in how Wisconsin treats people with mental illnesses who run afoul of the law. State and county officials blame a shortage of psychiatrists, growing demand for services and high medication costs.
About a third of the men and two-thirds of the women in Wisconsin prisons have mental health conditions, according to a 2012 state prison report. Of the approximately 21,700 prisoners in the state system, more than 5,000 are taking medications to treat mental illnesses.
State prison inmates are generally released with two weeks of pills and a four-week prescription. County jail inmates often get less than that, as little as three days of pills. They may run out before they get through the wait lists for county mental health services.
Jule Cavanaugh, reentry director for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, acknowledges that many inmates with mental illnesses are not getting sufficient post-incarceration care.
“At the end of the day, they need psychiatric care in the community and access to medications,” Cavanaugh said. “Without being stable, it’s very difficult for them” to address their criminal histories and tendencies.
Keisha Russell, founder of Infallible Helping Hands in Milwaukee, an advocacy group that aids female offenders, said newly released inmates must jump through numerous hoops and may prioritize food and shelter over refilling their psychiatric medications.
“A lot of times (offenders) end up going back to get drugs, and end up re-offending,” Russell said. “It’s a vicious cycle that keeps going and going.”
Full story: Mentally ill ex-inmates lack treatment, medication