Located in Kingston Penitentiary, the Regional Treatment Centre (Ontario) is a 90-bed mental health facility under Schedule I of the Mental Health Act of Ontario. There are managers of nursing (with a staff of 51), psychiatry ⁽⁴⁾, psychology ⁽¹³⁾, adjunct therapy ⁽¹¹⁾, and security ⁽³¹⁾.

The following programs are offered:

With 25 in-patients, the 18- to 20-week program consists of assessment, group therapy and individual counselling. The approach is cognitive-behavioural therapy.

An out-patient sexual offender program is provided at Kingston Penitentiary. Focusing on long-term offenders, the 16-week program uses cognitive-behavioural therapy.

The program provides medication and psychotherapy for up to 16 patients. The focus is on stabilizing psychotic episodes and monitoring suicidal inmates in order to permit return to the institution or entry to another Regional Treatment Centre program. The average stay is two months. On a long-term basis, the unit also manages a few mental disorder cases with continuing risk of violence.

This program provides psychiatric assessment and treatment of subacute mental disorders for up to 16 patients.

The program provides maintenance and skill development for up to 16 patients. The average stay is 180 to 365 days. However, there is a bimodal distribution of shorter-term cases, who are discharged to other institutions at an improved level of functioning, and long-term cases, who are unable to function in a normal prison.

Provided by a central group to all programs, these include occupational therapy, recreation, education, leisure activities, life skills, Alcoholics Anonymous, case management and problem solving.

This program provides psychiatric services (assessment, medication and psychotherapy) to other institutions, psychiatric nursing follow-up to discharged patients in other institutions, and community liaison for released patients.

Research and Evaluation

In the past year, Regional Treatment Centre staff presented five papers at two conferences. Topics included empathy training for sex offenders, recidivism studies and medication treatment of aggression. There is no formal research position. The future role of research and program evaluation is currently under review.