An inmates stands in a cell inside one of Massachusetts county jails. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Negotiations continue between Massachusetts correction officials and the Justice Department over last year s scathing federal report on mental health treatment in the state s prisons.
Andrew Peck, the state s undersecretary for criminal justice, said state corrections officials are working well with the DOJ, and a settlement over the report is in progress.
Last November, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling released the report after a two-year investigation that found the state Department of Correction violated prisoners constitutional rights by not providing adequate mental health care.
Lelling s report focused on detainees placed on so-called mental health watch, a status that typically results in a prisoner being isolated in a cell with few belongings or clothes. The prisoner is then closely monitored by medical staff and correction officers