that s their mindset. no contraband was found in this inmate s cell but as quickly as one cell is cleared, contraband is passed between inmates using whatever tools they can find. they use what they call kites, which are messages tied to string and cast out like fishing lures. 24 hours to set in this cell without communication, without contact from any other humans besides officers. a tree, when is the last time i saw a tree? oh, man, years, it s been years. years. it s been years since i saw a tree. i don t live under any great idea that we re gonna cure everybody, because that isn t true. sometimes the only goal we can have is to control the person s behavior as much as we can so they don t hurt themselves and don t hurt other people. next on lockup integrating the mentally ill
a letter? was that meant for me? yeah. how are you doing? so i see people when they need to be seen, when they asked to be seen, when somebody else thinks they need to be seen. i will see what s wrong, see what can be done in the institution to help them cope. the only way i can get out of this mood, i mean, i don t care, you can give me drugs, alcohol. the only way i can get out of moods is through self-injury. okay. group therapy in the shu is conducted with each inmate locked in a separate holding cell. dr. sims moderates this small group of self-mutilators. once i see my blood, i m in another world. i m a different i m someone totally different from myself. i mean, that s the only time i actually, you know, can actually feel real, feel alive, and feel like everything s going to be okay. for me, it s being in control. my whole life, i felt like i wasn t in control. but then when i had times when i do cut myself, i m in control of the situation. there are a group
dr. mary ruth sims routinely checks on the shu inmates. i ve been here for 7 1/2 years. what i do is different every single day. some days i do groups. some days i do individuals. some days it s crisis all day. hey, did you want me to pick up a letter? was that meant for me? yeah. how are you doing? so i see people when they need to be seen, when they asked to be seen, when somebody else thinks they need to be seen. i will see what s wrong, see what can be done in the institution to help them cope. the only way i can get out of this mood, i mean, i don t care, you can give me drugs, alcohol. the only way i can get out of moods is through self-injury. okay. group therapy in the shoe is conducted with each inmate locked in a separate holding cell. dr. sims moderates this small group of self-mutilators. once i see my blood, i m in another world. i m a different i m someone totally different from myself. i mean, that s the only time i actually, you know, can actually feel
institution, the staff in the shu deal with a variety of mental behaviors. there are those that are dangerous people, that you have to be very cautious of when you interact with them. inmate douglas mccombs, who is serving time for burglary, has spent three months in the security housing unit at wabash. since he s been inside the shu, he s been in a stripped cell. when you see a offender come out of the cell, and all he s wearing is his underwear, at that time he was on strip cell. we had trouble with him on about every range we put him on so far. say, i got a mental disorder, or they say i do. they say i got a mental disorder. they say schizophrenic disorder. i can t get along with people too much, especially when they re evil. officer sachtjen has been working in the shu since 1997. an average day in the shu can be pretty mundane. you have recs and showers to do, md, sick call and so on and so forth. some days like today do get a little more exciting. we had an offender w
so we don t want to give people stuff that they are going to use to hurt themselves badly. one. to ensure the inmates are not making weapons to harm themselves or others, the staff conducts routine cell searches, also known as shakedowns. shakedowns are for many things. we re looking for contraband. we re looking for prohibitive property. we re looking for weapons. everything can be utilized in this facility as a weapon if that s their mindset. no contraband was found in this inmate s cell but as quickly as one cell is cleared, contraband is passed between inmates using whatever tools they can find. they use what they call kites, which are messages tied to string and cast out like fishing lures. 24 hours to set in this cell without communication, without contact from any other humans besides officers. a tree, when is the last time i saw a tree? oh, man, years, it s been years. years. it s been years since i saw a