Pathways through the criminal justice system for prisoners with acute and serious mental illness

Purpose: To evaluate pathways through the criminal justice system for 63 prisoners under the care of prison mental health services. Results: Only a small number (3%) were acutely mentally ill on reception to prison, and this may reflect the successful operation of liaison and diversion services at earlier stages in the pathway. However, a third (33%) went onto display acute symptoms at later stages. Cases displaying suicide risk at arrest, with a history of in-patient care, were at increased risk of acute deterioration in the first weeks of imprisonment, with a general lack of health assessments for these cases prior to their imprisonment. Inconsistencies in the transfer of mental health information to health files may result in at-risk cases being overlooked, and a lack of standardisation at the court stage resulted in difficulties determining onward service provision and outcomes. Foreign national prisoners were under-represented in the sample. Conclusions: Greater consistency in access to pre-prison health services in the criminal justice system is needed, especially for those with pre-existing vulnerabilities, and it may have a role in preventing subsequent deterioration. A single system for health information flow across the whole pathway would be beneficial. Summary points: 1. Only 3% of cases were acutely mentally ill at prison reception. 2. Cases identified at arrest as presenting a high risk of suicide, with a history of in-patient care, may be at increased risk of acute deterioration in the first weeks of imprisonment; but they were over-looked for assessment prior to prison. 3. Inconsistencies in the transfer of mental health information into prison health files may result in overlooked at-risk cases

Factors Associated With Sexual Coercion in a Representative Sample of Men in Australian Prisons

Very little research has focused on men or prisoners as victims of sexual violence. This study provides the first population-based analysis of factors associated with sexual coercion of men in Australian prisons, and the first to use a computer-assisted telephone interview to collect this information in a prison setting. A random sample of men in New South Wales and Queensland prisons were surveyed using computer-assisted telephone interviewing. We asked participants about sexual coercion, defined as being forced or frightened into doing something sexually that was unwanted while in prison. Associations between sexual coercion in prison and sociodemographics, sexual coercion history outside of prison, and prison-related factors were examined. Logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios in examining factors associated with sexual coercion in prisons. Of 2626 eligible men, 2000 participated. Participants identifying as non-heterosexual and those with a history of sexual coercion outside prison were found to be most at risk. Those in prison for the first time and those who had spent more than 5 years in prison ever were also more likely to report sexual coercion. Although prison policies and improving prison officer training may help address immediate safety and health concerns of those at risk, given the sensitivity of the issue and likely under-reporting to correctional staff, community-based organizations and prisoner peer-based groups arguably have a role too in providing both preventive and trauma-focused support

Aging and Dying in Prison Needs and Implications for Prison Hospice

Lecture presentations hosted by the College of Nursing featuring faculty, graduate students, nursing professionals, and allied health experts. Each lunchtime lecture is devoted to a timely topic examining the training, research and scholarly needs of the nursing community.Lectures; Prison Hospic

Investigations of a single point temperature probe for measurement of atmospheric turbulence

Gradients in the index of refraction caused by temperature fluctuations create optical turbulence. This optical turbulence greatly degrades the performance of imaging and laser systems operating in the atmosphere. There are several methods of measuring optical turbulence in the atmosphere, but few give a high resolution profile of the turbulence at all levels displaying the "layers" of turbulence that exist. This thesis is an investigation of the use of a high temperature probe coupled with a VIZ 9000 meteorological system to measure the optical turbulence in the atmosphere from a ground base to approximately 25 km. the processing of the data is done by a program developed as part of this research. The outputs of the program are r(o), 0(0) and C(n)(2) as functions of altitudehttp://archive.org/details/investigationsof00hoovLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Production managing performing arts festivals

Performing Arts Festivals are becoming a part of every production manager’s scope of responsibility. The festivals range from high schools, like the American High School Theatre Festival, to colleges, like our own David Mark Cohen New Works Festival or the Kennedy Center: American College Theatre Festival, to larger scale festivals, like the Lincoln Center Festival or the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Because festivals are becoming so popular, and because they are so unlike producing a single show, it behooves production managers to understand the workings of festival management. This thesis proposes to specifically document the University CO-OP Cohen New Works Festival 2005 and use that experience and documentation as the basis for production managing a new works festival. In addition to documenting this process, other festivals will be researched to compare them with the University festival, using the university festival as a jumping off point for discussion. The goal of looking at many different festivals, is to collect the different ways of approaching the production aspect of a festival and to find the better ways of managing them and then produce guidelines for current and future production managersTheatre and Danc

Damage Inflicted on Climbing Ropes by Handsaws

Arborists frequently use handsaws while climbing, and a recent accident highlighted the danger of cutting one’s rope with a handsaw. There do not appear to be any robust tests describing the ability of handsaws to cut ropes. The following study attached handsaw blades to a pendulum, which swung into a rope, bringing the blade and rope, which was under tension, into contact. The percent of the rope’s diameter cut by the blade was measured, as well as the percent loss in the rope’s strength after it was cut. Type of blade was a more important factor than type of rope with respect to the percent cut and percent strength loss, and there was a nearly one-to-one relationship between those response variables. The results of this study are discussed in the context of a climber’s safety

Impact Force and Rope Tension Affect Likelihood of Cutting a Climbing Rope with a Handsaw

A previous study has demonstrated the ease with which a climber could cut his or her rope using a handsaw (Kane et al. 2009). In a previously published effort, however, the authors did not examine the effect of two variables that presumably influence the ease with which a rope can be cut: rope tension and impact force of the blade. In the current study, two types of rope are cut using one type of blade, with varied rope tension (seven levels) and impact force (four levels) of the pendulum-mounted blade on the rope. Increases in impact force and rope tension increased the ease of cutting both ropes tested, but impact force was the dominant effect. At the greatest impact force, which was similar to the impact force a climber could exert using two hands on a handsaw, all but one rope was completely severed. The results are discussed in the context of climber safety