By C1 Staff
PEORIA — It will take five years to fully implement a new plan to overhaul mental health care inside of Illinois prisons.
The Pantagraph reports that the overhaul is the result of a 2007 federal lawsuit, and a proposed settlement lays out a plan for how mental health care inside of correctional facilities will change.
The improvements include opening four residential treatment units, increasing staff to care for mentally ill prisoners and reopening the former Joliet youth home as a mental health campus.
“IDOC is moving forward with the already-agreed-upon components of the decree, and numerous major components are scheduled for rollout this year,” said IDOC spokesman Tom Shaer.
All offenders entering the prison system will be screened for mental health issues and provided counseling, medication and follow-up care by trained professionals.
The plan includes hiring a total of 350 new clinical workers and 200 security staff at a cost of $62 million.
An estimated $18 million needed to cover increased staff and operational costs is included in the FY 2016 state budget.