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2006 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 306
Commending the Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center and Superintendent David L. Harmon.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 17, 2006
Agreed to by the Senate, February 23, 2006

 

WHEREAS, the Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center and Superintendent David L. Harmon are recognized for providing superior mental health and health care services at the correctional facility in Saluda; and

WHEREAS, the Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center (MPRSC) is a Jail Contract Bed Program, which is operated under contract with the Virginia Department of Corrections; and

WHEREAS, the MPRSC, which houses approximately 240 inmates, maintains a well-coordinated organization with a superior staff that works well together in support of the entire facility; and

WHEREAS, the MPRSC has received high marks from the United States Department of Justice’s National Institute of Corrections for the mental health and health care programs it provides to an inmate population that requires services for suicide potential, mental illness, and co-occurring disorders; and

WHEREAS, the MPRSC has been highly successful in meeting its goal of providing effective, humane, safe, and just correctional programs that meet the needs of inmates; and

WHEREAS, every inmate entering MPRSC goes through a health screening process that identifies detainees who require immediate medical evaluation or intervention, and medical services are provided on site seven days a week; and

WHEREAS, the mental health services at the facility are provided by the Middle Peninsula Northern Neck Community Services Board and full-time mental health professionals employed by MPRSC; and

WHEREAS, the mental health services professional staff is particularly noteworthy for a correctional facility and includes a full-time mental health therapist, the support of a clinical director, a mental health/substance abuse provider and supervisor, and a psychiatrist who visits the facility at least once a month, as well as on an as-needed basis, which is often the case; and

WHEREAS, the MPRSC’s on-site mental health professional is a qualified mental health screener, and the staff is trained to manage mental health crisis situations until the inmate can be seen and evaluated by a mental health professional; and

WHEREAS, MPRSC provides impressive, in time and range of services, mental health and substance abuse related services that are available to every inmate in the facility; and

WHEREAS, Superintendent David Harmon and his staff are committed to seeing that the inmates are provided with the mental health services that they require, especially appropriate suicide prevention and intervention programs; and

WHEREAS, Superintendent David Harmon was honored in 1999 by the American Jail Association’s Joe Rowan Award as Correctional Administrator of the Year; and

WHEREAS, the staff and professionals of the Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center treat inmates with dignity and care, and the facility is an outstanding model of a value-based approach to jail management and the delivery of jail-based mental health and health care services; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly commend the Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center for its continuing efforts to maintain an excellent correctional facility, especially in its delivery of mental health and health care services; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Superintendent David Harmon of the Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center as an expression of the General Assembly’s gratitude for its outstanding service to the Commonwealth of Virginia.