This article talks about the possibility of psychotropic drugs being overprescribed in California prisons. Prisons state that prescribing drugs to inmates protects the staff from potential risks. Most cases of drug prescription stem from court orders and lawsuits, while the rest stem from court-appointed specialists who oversee every aspect of an inmates mental health. While evidence to prove overprescription of drugs is lacking, some unusual cases have occured that seem to say otherwise. One such case is that of Joseph Sullivan, who, before commiting suicide in prison, had written an optimistic letter about his future to his father. When the autopsy of his body was performed, they found evidence of Zyprexa (an anti-psychotic) in his system…show more content… A tactic known as defensive medicine, where inmates are forced to taking psychotropic drugs that are not necessarily needed to reduce the risk of issues occurring within the prison that could potentially involve staff. According to Sharon Augunst, a former chief deputy secretary for California's Department Division of Health Care Services, the prison will keep someone on drugs to avoid lawsuits or federal court orders. Defensive medicine tactics result in nearly one-fourth of all inmates being prescribed a psychotropic drug of some sort. In fact, California's prison department spends just over one-fourth of its budget on anti-psychotics alone. These statistics allude to the idea that prisons do, in truth, overprescribe psychotropic drugs to the inmates. However, in 2011, a law was passed denying prisons the right to prescribe inmates medication with their informed consent. This law rejects the notion that an inmate should be pumped full of dangerous drugs despite the fact that he may not need them, just so the prisons don't have to walk a fine line between orderly conduct and the potential hazardous implications that may or may not be brought about by unmedicated prisoners. It gives back a sense of "you still have a say" to the inmates, despite all the other privledges that have been lost on the path to
