The Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety reached a settlement with the estate of Michael Anthony Kerr. Mr. Kerr died on March 12, 2014 while in the custody of the Division.
The Division is committed to taking action to greatly improve the management and treatment of those incarcerated who suffer from mental illness. Many initiatives are already in place and some are on-going. These include crisis intervention training (CIT) for all staff; implementation of electronic health records system; consultant, advocacy, and task force reviews of operations; re-missioning of facilities; implementation of a treatment mall concept; and legislative items to address staffing, pay and augmented services.
To date, the Division has trained approximately 1,800 staff in crisis intervention and it intends to have all correctional staff who work in prisons trained in CIT. The Division also has requested additional funding to improve mental health services for inmates. In addition, the Division will be working with the Vera Institute of Justice on a grant to assist in the implementation of safe alternatives to the use of segregation.
Insurance pays $1.5 million of the $2.5 million settlement.