Psych meds use seen high in Vermont prisons

From the Boston Globe

Seroquel is an anti-psychotic drug designed for people struggling with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Its possible side effects include high blood sugar, which can lead to diabetes, and tardive dyskinesia, which manufacturer AstraZeneca describes as "uncontrollable movements of the face, tongue, or other parts of the body" that can become permanent.

But it has been widely prescribed in Vermont prisons, where about 46 percent of inmates were on some kind of psychotropic medication last year, a fact seen as disturbing by prison rights advocates and corrections officials alike.

By the state's own estimates, Vermont has the highest percentage of inmates on psychotropic medication of any state in the country and the highest number of inmates getting more than one psychiatric medication. The next-closest state had 24 percent of its inmates on such drugs, state Department of Corrections health director Dr. Susan Wehry told a legislative committee last year.

Those figures count the full range of psychiatric drugs, everything from antidepressants to anti-psychotic medications like Seroquel. Because of the anti-psychotics' greater mind-altering effects and potential side effects, much of the concern has been focused on them.

"The problem in prison is (drugs are) given to a lot of people to quiet them down," said prison mental health expert Dr. Terry Kupers, a California psychiatrist. "They're over-prescribed for people who are not psychotic but who are not sleeping or who are causing disruptions in the prisons," he said.

According to internal Vermont Department of Corrections records obtained through a freedom of information request by The Associated Press:

• At Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, Seroquel was being given to 74 prisoners -- more than 20 percent of the prison's 350 inmates -- as of last July, even though only 38 were classified as "seriously mentally ill."
  
• Last July's list for the Springfield prison showed 77 more prescriptions had been written for other anti-psychotic drugs, including Zyprexa, Risperdal and Abilify.
  
• At Southeast State Correctional Facility in Windsor, a women's prison, nearly a third of its inmates were taking Seroquel in the same period.
  
• The state spent $1.76 million buying drugs for prisoners last year.

Experts say drugs are often used by prisons instead of more intensive -- and expensive -- talk therapy.

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See the Boston Globe for the full article with opinion. The basic facts are as above.