(AP) – Officials are saying Hawaii’s state correctional system has a mental health system in trouble again. The issues come nearly two decades after the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state for alleged “deliberate indifference” to mental health needs at the largest jail on Oahu. Honolulu Civil Beat reports it has confirmed at least seven suicides in the state correctional system since 2022. Current and former employees identified at least nine clinical psychologists and psychologists-in-training who have left since 2022. Corrections Department Director Tommy Johnson says the agency is pivoting to new strategies to cope with mental health problems, but he says too many mentally ill people are being routed into jails for petty crimes.
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