Nonemergency Involuntary Antipsychotic Medication in Prison: Effects on Prison Inpatient Days and Disciplinary...

We hypothesized that treating mentally ill inmates involuntarily with antipsychotic medication would reduce the number of prison inpatient days and the number of inmates who receive disciplinary charges. The subjects were 133 mentally ill inmates who were placed on the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJ DOC) nonemergency involuntary medication protocol and received antipsychotic medication for at least one year. No difference was noted in an inmate's mean number of prison inpatient days in the year before versus the year during involuntary medication. Fewer inmates received serious disciplinary charges during the year of involuntary medication relative to the year before, when they were not medicated. In addition, there were decreases in mean instances and mean total number of charges during involuntary medication versus before. Neither an increased number of inpatient days nor depot medication accounted for the inmates who incurred no charges while receiving involuntary medication.