While Sedlis Dowdy, introduced earlier in this chapter, was the exception in committing a violent crime due to his mental disorder, the way he experienced prison as a person with a mental disorder was not so unusual. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), most people with mental illness (about three in five) do not receive treatment at all while in prison. (NAMI, n.d.). Oregon’s record is better, but it is far from perfect. In 2023, an estimated 62% of Oregon state prisoners needed mental health care, and according to the state Department of Corrections, about 42% of Oregon inmates are actually getting the care they need (Frost, 2023).

Why is care lacking despite the acknowledged need? The problem of staffing seems relatively mundane, but it is a central barrier to proper care in custody, and it leads to serious problems, especially for higher-needs people in custody (figure 7.13). Shortages of corrections and/or mental health staff exist for various reasons, including the rural locations of prisons, lack of competitive pay, and after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal prison system maintains that it simply cannot find and hire enough workers to fill hundreds of vacancies at many facilities, even while the federal prison population is on the rise. Regardless of the cause, shortages result in inadequate support for all incarcerated people, especially those experiencing mental disorders. Lack of adequate support creates unacceptable outcomes, including abuse and violence against incarcerated people, vast overuse of solitary confinement, and increased rates of prisoner self-harm (Lartey & Thompson, 2024).

Staffing problems were at the heart of a 2007 lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) brought by a man named Ashoor Rasho, who was eventually joined by 12,000 other incarcerated plaintiffs. Rasho’s lawsuit challenged the Illinois DOC’s pattern of punishing people like Rasho instead of treating them for their mental disorders. Rasho had been sentenced to a few years in prison and ended up serving far more—about five times the original time he was expected to serve. This was due to behaviors in prison that were related to Rasho’s mental disorders but were handled with punishments, including decades in solitary confinement. A central issue in Rasho’s lawsuit was that the prison did not have the staff to allow people who were mentally ill or suicidal out of their cells. Instead, they were locked up alone, even though this was devastating to their mental health (Herman, 2019). Rasho’s litigation remains ongoing as of this writing, nearly 20 years after it first began, but it has forced some changes. For example, the Illinois DOC has made efforts to hire hundreds of mental health professionals and hundreds more corrections officers. It has also constructed a prison hospital, a higher level of care that serves as a critical alternative to solitary confinement for incarcerated people displaying severe symptoms of mental disorders (Strom, 2016). According to the director of the Illinois DOC: “Corrections in Illinois was a little slow to recognize we are the mental health system for Illinois. Whether we want to be or not, we are; and we have to start acting like it” (Herman, 2019).

The state of Oregon also faces staffing challenges in its prisons. Oregon is certainly not unique in facing this challenge, but it is perhaps additionally frustrating for a system that has received some notice for being progressive and reform-minded and has taken steps to reduce the punitive culture in its facilities. This approach has been called the “Oregon Way” and includes efforts to humanize incarcerated people and as well as improve prison staff well-being in the state (Wilson, 2022).

Oregon correctional officers who endorse these institutional goals, however, are stymied by the reality of staffing shortages. A Pendleton, Oregon, correctional officer interviewed in 2023 affirmed that he “likes the idea of a more humane approach to incarceration . . . [that includes] humanizing adults in custody, addressing their mental health needs and talking to them about their trauma” (Dake, 2023). However, these ideals feel impossible to realize amidst the conditions at his workplace, the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution (figure 7.14). Due to staffing shortages, there is only one correctional officer per 80 adults in custody. Correctional staff are expected to work extraordinarily long shifts and have mandated overtime, “so they show up for shifts having missed a kid’s birthday or important anniversary” (Dake, 2023). While staff might fully embrace the idea of improving services for people in custody, significant staffing shortages make even basic required services—like ensuring time outside of cells—hard to deliver (Dake, 2023).

Licenses and Attributions for Staffing in Jails and Prisons

Open Content, Original

“Staffing in Jails and Prisons” by Anne Nichol is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Open Content, Shared Previously

Figure 7.13. Correctional Officers by Core Civic is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

Figure 7.14. “The Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, Oregon” by Sam Beebe is licensed under CC BY 2.0.