Mental Health Services
The Department of Corrections provides a full range of mental health services through a contracted provider. All services are audited by Division of Offender Rehabilitative Services staff to ensure mental health care meets both current standards and contract requirements.
Mental health services are available at all Department of Corrections institutions. All offenders are evaluated during the intake process at the reception and diagnostic centers. Mental health screening and testing determine whether treatment is appropriate and what assistance offenders will need while incarcerated. Additionally, any offender may request mental health services at any time during incarceration.
The department provides specialized programming for offenders with severe mental illnesses and developmental disabilities. The Farmington Correctional Center is the site of our men’s Social Rehabilitation Unit, a 100-bed housing unit for mentally ill offenders, designed to offer a long-term structured setting. A similar program for women, the Women's Social Rehabilitation Unit, is available at the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Chillicothe. Farmington houses the Correctional Treatment Center, a 20-bed unit for those who need a more protected environment. The Jefferson City Correctional Center’s Secure Social Rehabilitation Unit provides treatment to mentally ill offenders in maximum security. Potosi Correctional Center holds the Special Needs Unit, a 46-bed unit for offenders with developmental disabilities.
Mental health staff members also work closely with community providers and reentry coordinators to ensure continuity of care upon release.
Substance Use & Recovery Treatment Services
Approximately 83 percent of offenders are engaged in substance misuse within 12 months before incarceration. In order to provide the earliest possible intervention and the most effective treatment, the department provides substance use disorder services for offenders in institutions as well as strategies to support people under supervision in the community,
Institutional treatment centers (ITC) provide structured comprehensive substance use disorder treatment for incarcerated, parole and probation violators. ITCs operate in numerous correctional center locations in Boonville, Bowling Green, Chillicothe, Farmington, Fordland, Fulton, Maryville, St. Joseph and Vandalia. ITCs offer a more therapeutic alternative to traditional incarceration. Offenders are held accountable for their behavior and are required to successfully complete treatment interventions prior to release. The department partners with the Department of Mental Health's Division of Behavioral Health to provide treatment services in the community for offenders and facilitate the continuity of care from institutions to treatment and recovery support services in community settings.
Treatment beds are located throughout the state from minimum- to maximum-security institutions. Long-term substance use disorder treatment (12 months) for chronic and progressive addictions is provided at Ozark Correctional Center, Maryville Treatment Center, Chillicothe Correctional Center, and Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center. Six-month treatment is provided at Maryville Treatment Center, Western Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center, Farmington Correctional Center, Chillicothe Correctional Center and Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center. Short-term treatment (approximately 84 days) is provided at the facilities in Boonville, Chillicothe, Fulton, Farmington, St. Joseph and Vandalia.
The Department of Corrections provides substance use assessment services at units in four regional reception centers, and provides services at the Northeast Correctional Center and Fulton Reception Diagnostic Correctional Center, which serve offenders mandated for treatment with ambulatory and other special needs that prevent their access to other programs. A program tailored to meet the needs of parole violators is provided at the Western Reception and Diagnostic Correctional Center.
Drug screening via urinalysis is an important part of the department's zero tolerance approach toward drug use by offenders. In 2001, the department began drug testing for incarcerated offenders and offenders on probation and parole supervision. On a monthly basis, 5 percent of all offenders are randomly selected for urinalysis testing and 5 percent of offenders who have previously tested positive are selected for "targeted testing." Drug testing assists corrections professionals in their work to assess, evaluate and refer offenders to appropriate substance use disorder programs within the institutions and the community.
To further combat the illegal use of drugs in prison, the department has enhanced interdiction efforts to intercept drug transactions and deliveries. The combination of drug intervention, drug screening and treatment strategies enforces the department's zero tolerance standard for offender drug use.