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A federal investigation into the use of restricted housing for individuals with mental health issues by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections was launched in 2011 about the time three inmates at the now-closed State Correctional Institution at Cresson committed suicide.
The investigation led to a series of changes under DOC Secretary John E. Wetzel.
The DOC has created specialized treatment units and has banned the use of solitary confinement for inmates with mental health issues, which Wetzel believes affect about 25 percent of the prison population.
Shirley Moore Smeal of Mount Union began her career with the DOC in 1987 as a clerk-typist at the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon.
She worked at SCIs Smithfield, Albion and Camp Hill and eventually was appointed superintendent of SCI Muncy. She presently holds the position as DOC's executive deputy secretary.
She has seen the changes in the state system over the years, and she said the department is responding to the demand to reduce the prison population and to provide programs that will enable inmates to be successful when they are released.
While the prison population in Pennsylvania is high, it is not static, Smeal explained as she talked about the importance of addressing inmate problems and preparing them for re-entry.
"They are individuals, and they are people, and they are going back to the community," Smeal said during a recent interview.
The question is, she said, "How can were treat them holistically?"
The department each year releases between 15,000 and 20,000 inmates and, Smeal said, "We don't want a revolving door."
She outlined a large number of efforts by the department to prepare the inmates for their return to the community.
In the area of mental health, the department has started a large peer-support program in which inmates who have learned how to manage their issues aid their colleagues in the adjustment process.
There are approximately 400 to 500 trained peer-support specialists throughout the state system, she said.
More than 15,000 correction officers have been trained in mental health first aid, increasing their ability to spot mental health issues among the inmate population, and 1,600 officers have been trained in crisis intervention, she said.
The correctional system has received a federal grant to aid with the preparation of inmates to rejoin the work force.
The DOC works with the Department of Labor and Industry to prepare inmates for jobs that are "meaningful" and available upon their release, Smeal said.
For instance, the training prepares inmates for work in the natural gas industry and encourages employers to be in contact with inmates prior to their release. Pre-release contact occurs at SCI Cambridge Springs, which is one of the state's prisons for female inmates.
In a January release, the DOC focused on its Culinary Academy, which provides food service training to inmates and has had more than 300 graduates from its nine-week course. They are now employed as line cooks, prep cooks, kitchen managers and chefs.
The department, using federal grant money, has developed a program called "Career Pathways: 'Inside the Walls'" that helps inmates realize what jobs they may be interested in, and allows them to pursue training in that area. Prison industries provide job experience for many of the inmates.
The program also assists inmates with updating their resumes.
While the DOC has developed a Career Pathway program within the system, the next steps will be to work with "outside partners" to address inmate needs for housing, substance abuse treatment, medical care and family reunification -- all possible obstacles upon release.
The DOC is addressing the present drug crisis in society by creating Opioid Therapeutic Communities, where those in treatment for opioid abuse live together and participate in Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholic Anonymous programs.
Susan McNaughton, a longtime spokeswoman for the department, said, "There's so much we do in all of these areas that goes unnoticed."
"We may have gone through a period of time several years ago where it looked like we were mostly warehousing inmates," she said. "That really hasn't been the case since around 2010-11, when Secretary Wetzel came on board.
"Our focus is on protecting the public but also to help inmates change their criminal ways of thinking and to set them on a path for success post-relief. Ninety percent of our inmates one day will go home," McNaughton said, noting The Justice Reinvestment Initiative. "We have said for years that some people need treatment rather than incarceration."
She said the prisons should be reserved for those convicted of serious crimes.
"Our prisons should be used for violent individuals who need to be separated from society," she said. "Others, especially nonviolent individuals, could benefit from a diversionary measures-program, such as day reporting, serving a sentence over a weekend, allowing them to continue working during the week."
"Others," she added, "simply need substance abuse treatment rather than being placed in a prison."