Employees promoted in KY DOC's mental health division

From the DOC:

Kentucky Department of Corrections Deputy Commissioner Al Parke today announced a realignment of the agency’s Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse that will move three employees into key positions of leadership. Dr. Elizabeth McKune, Dr. James Van Nort and Karyn Hascal have been selected to serve as Assistant Directors of the Division.

McKune will oversee all psychological services, Van Nort will direct the Sex Offender Treatment and Sex Offender Risk Assessment areas, and Hascal will provide oversight for all Alcohol and other Drug services. All of the new assistant directors will report to Division Director Kevin Pangburn.

“I am excited with our new organization. It decentralizes mental health into three distinctive units governed by three proven professionals,” said Parke. “This allows expedient decision making and oversight of these critical areas that are an essential component of corrections.” McKune came to the DOC in 1999 as a Psychologist assigned to the Nursing Care Facility and the Correctional Psychiatric Treatment Unit at the Kentucky State Reformatory. She was promoted to Licensed Psychologist Program Administrator for General Psychology Services in 2004. She briefly left the DOC to serve as Director of Psychology, Neuropsychology, and Brain Injury Programs for Frazier Rehab in Louisville. She returned in March 2007 and has been serving as the Licensed Psychologist Program Administrator for Organizational Development. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Louisville, McKune teaches part-time at Spalding University where she is the Acting Director of the Health Psychology Emphasis Area. She lives in Louisville with her husband, Joe, and two girls, Maggie and Katie.

Van Nort is a Licensed Psychologist who began his employment with the Department of Corrections in 1998. In 2002, he was promoted to Chief Psychologist of the Sex Offender Risk Assessment Unit, and in 2006, he took over as Program Administrator of the Sex Offender Treatment Program. Van Nort chairs the Sex Offender Risk Assessment Advisory Board and has served on a Governor's Council and Task Forces. He resides in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife Abby and sons Joshua and Warren. Hascal has worked in the field of substance abuse for the past 30 years, most recently as the Deputy Executive Director of the Office of Drug Control Policy. She has been a certified substance abuse counselor since 1980 and has held a variety of management positions in community and correctional programs. She currently resides in Louisville with her son, Eric.

“All of these individuals possess the unique combination of leadership, dedication and vision necessary for our current and future plans,” said Pangburn. “They are all true corrections professionals, and we are fortunate to be the beneficiary of their professional expertise.” The Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse encompasses approximately 150 employees across the state who provide psychological, sex offender treatment and substance abuse services to the nearly 21,000 felony offenders incarcerated in Kentucky jails and prisons.

Congress updates/expands the ADA

From Reuters:

The often divided, election-year Congress came together on Wednesday to give final approval to a bill to protect millions of disabled Americans against discrimination in the workplace.
On a voice vote, the House of Representatives approved the measure that was unanimously passed by the Senate last week. The White House said President George W. Bush would sign it into law.

The legislation would reverse U.S. Supreme Court rulings that critics charge narrowed the intent of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and erected new barriers to coverage. The 1990 law was signed by Bush's father, then President George Bush.

"The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is instrumental in allowing individuals with disabilities to fully participate in our economy and society, and the administration supports efforts to enhance its protections," said White House press secretary Dana Perino.
The measure clarifies that Congress intends the Americans with Disabilities Act to be broadly interpreted in requiring employers to make accommodations for the disabled.

It reverses Supreme Court decisions that limited the law. The court ruled, for instance, that mitigating circumstances like medication or a prosthesis make a person ineligible for coverage.
The bill again defines a disability as a physical or mental impairment that "substantially limits" activities. It also increases the number of activities covered and expands the ability of workers to sue if they believe they are mistreated.

LEO Weekly cover story on mental illness and the death penalty

I don't like the title, but Sarah Kelley's look into the move to prohibit executions of the severely mentally ill is a good read.

Highlights:

• * Only individuals suffering from the most serious mental disorders would be eligible for exclusion from capital punishment. Such mental illnesses include major depressive disorder, dissociative disorders such as multiple personalities, and schizophrenia, by far the most common serious mental illness plaguing capital defendants. Those with psychological disorders due to chronic drug abuse could still face the death penalty.

• Not only must a defendant be diagnosed with a grave mental illness, lawyers would have to prove the person was suffering from the disorder at the time of the crime.

• It is estimated that about 5-10 percent of defendants currently on death row suffer from severe psychological illness.

• Years after Gall’s trial, several jurors called to testify during his appeal admitted they favored imposing the death penalty in large part because he was deranged, despite the fact that mental illness is a mitigating factor in capital cases.

• Rather than present evidence disputing the defense’s argument, the prosecution disparaged the use of an insanity defense in general, equating psychologists to “three blind mice asked to identify an elephant,” before warning the jury not to “turn Gall loose” by finding him insane and shipping him off to a mental hospital.

• Only about 1 percent of accused felons claim innocence due to mental illness. Of those defendants, juries find only a small fraction not guilty by reason of insanity. Experts believe that’s because mental illness is stigmatized, misunderstood and feared.

• In Tennessee, the state’s court of appeals overturned the death sentence of Richard Taylor in March. A paranoid schizophrenic, Taylor was serving time for robbery when, after being denied his anti-psychotic medication for months, he attacked and killed a prison guard. The judge allowed Taylor to serve as his own attorney. During his trial, he wore sunglasses, failed to present any witnesses or evidence, and instead ranted incoherently before the jury, which sentenced him to death. His sentence was thrown out and he now is serving life.