Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Corrections › Chapter DOC 311 - Observation Status › Appendix - APPENDIX

Current through June 24, 2024
Observation is a nonpunitive measure taken to ensure the safety
				of the inmate or others during the crisis period. Hopefully, by confining the
				inmate under observation for a short time, the personal crisis will subside
				without any harm being done to the inmate or to others. Examples of personal
				crisis are situations in which an inmate receives discouraging or disheartening
				news from his or her family and evidences a mental health problem and
				dangerousness and temporarily needs emotional support and observation because
				of the possibility of attempted self harm or harm to others; or when an inmate
				is in an emotional depression and needs to be carefully watched because of the
				possibility of attempted self harm or harm to others; or when an inmate has
				attempted to commit suicide and shows signs of another attempt.
Alcoholic and drug dependent inmates shall be placed in
				observation only if treatment is necessary and cannot be provided while the
				inmate is in the general population.
Section
				DOC
				311.04 sets forth the standards to be used in
				determining dangerousness and mental illness. They are similar to the standards
				used to determine dangerousness and mental illness for involuntary civil
				commitment under s.
				51.20,
				Stats. The analogy between the standards is apt since both are vehicles for
				removing dangerous persons from the population in which they live.
Sections
				DOC
				311.04 and authorize 311.10 certain people to place an
				inmate in observation. Ideally, placement should be made by highly trained
				personnel, and the clinician, crisis intervention worker, physician or warden
				should authorize all placements. However, experience teaches that this is not
				always possible. Thus, others are authorized to place inmates in observation,
				but in such cases the clinician, crisis intervention worker, or physician
				review that placement in no longer than 2 working days. The clinician, crisis
				intervention worker or physician decides on the necessity of continued
				placement with allowed privileges, and properties or the immediate release of
				the inmate from observation.
Subsection
				DOC
				311.05(4) provides for a review of
				the inmate's status at least once every 2 working days for mental health
				placements in observation. An earlier review may occur. These time periods
				provide for regular and appropriate reviews of placements in
				observation.
The kinds of property and privileges allowed in observation may
				differ substantially, and great care should be exercised in determining which
				properties and privileges should be allowed an inmate.
If, in the opinion of the clinician, crisis intervention
				worker, or physician, observation is not sufficient to properly handle the
				mental health concerns, commitment procedures under s.
				51.20,
				Stats., or transfer procedures under s.
				51.37(5),
				Stats., should be pursued. However, experience teaches that mental health
				institutions are reluctant to accept transfers of inmates for placement or
				transfer under ss.
				51.20
				and
				51.37(5),
				Stats., and hopefully the provisions under ss.
				DOC
				311.04 to will 311.07 be adequate to handle an
				inmate's crisis.
Sections
				DOC
				311.07 and provide 311.12 that an inmate may be
				continued in observation after a special review. Review of continued mental
				health placement contains due process protections of the major disciplinary
				hearing. Due process protections are important and are afforded the few inmates
				affected by this provision because the seriousness of this confinement
				parallels civil commitment. At these special reviews, dangerousness and mental
				illness shall be the only criteria for placement in this status.
Section
				DOC
				311.07 provides the inmate with adequate written
				notice of the review. Subsection (3) (g) notes that safety and security may be
				breached if certain testimony or evidence is allowed into the open record. In
				such cases, review shall deal with the omissions as noted under s.
				DOC
				311.07(3) (h). See the major
				disciplinary procedures.
Subsection
				DOC
				311.07(2) provides for the time of
				the review. The inmate may waive the review as well as the time limits. To
				ensure that any waiver is a knowing intelligent one, the inmate must be
				informed of his or her right to a review and what that entails; the inmate must
				be informed of what the review will be like if he or she waives the time
				limits; and the waiver must be in writing. The waiver is not an admission of
				dangerousness or mental illness.
Placement of an inmate in observation status is not thought to
				implicate the interests cited in
Vitek v. Jones
100 S.Ct. 1254
				(1980). In
Vitek
, the transfer was to a separate institution
				which was solely for mentally ill people. A person in observation status in
				Wisconsin frequently will remain in his or her own cell or room. Sometimes, the
				person is transferred to a different cell, for their own protection or so that
				they can be more carefully observed to prevent self-destructive conduct.
If in the opinion of the clinician, crisis intervention worker,
				or physician additional treatment is needed, commitment proceedings pursuant to
				ch. 51, Stats., are commenced. These proceedings do more than
Vitek
requires for the transfer of an inmate to a mental
				health institution.
A staff member must have direct access to an inmate in the
				event that a problem develops, and a staff member must observe the inmate often
				to ensure that the inmate is safe.
If observation is not continued under s.
				DOC
				311.09 or the inmate is not transferred under s.
				51.20
				or
				51.37(5),
				Stats., the inmate is returned to his or her previous status. Since observation
				is a nonpunitive status, every attempt should be made to have inmates resume
				previous assignments.
Section
				DOC
				311.10 provides for the placement of an inmate in
				medical observation if the inmate is suspected of having a medical problem
				which requires the inmate to be separated from the general population or if the
				inmate refuses testing for a communicable disease. Section
				DOC
				311.12 provides that an inmate may be continued in
				observation for a reasonable period of time for diagnosis, treatment or as
				needed as determined by a physician. An inmate in medical observation is to
				receive periodic reviews of the medical placement as determined by the
				physician.
This chapter is in substantial accord with the provisions
				regarding the special management of inmates in the American Correctional
				Association's Manual of Standards for Adult Correctional Institutions standards
				3-4238, 3-4241, 3-4243-4246, 3-4249, and 3-4261.