Eagle Point Unit News 07.31.24

The ADCRR is pleased to announce changes to the Eagle Point unit at ASPC-Lewis.

Through the dedicated work of countless staff from across the ADCRR and the Lewis complex, the Eagle Point unit has been transformed and reopened as the Department's licensed inpatient unit for inmates with serious mental illness. Improving services for this hard to reach population is a priority for the Department, and doing so embodies the Department's vision to reimagine corrections with modernized correctional practices that promote systemic wellness.

By repurposing and reopening the Eagle Point unit, male inmates with significant trauma histories and those with serious mental illness, or in recovery from substance use disorder, receive a new multimodality therapeutic service. The Art of Our Soul program, founded by Brandon Lee, centers on inmates already engaged with clinical therapy in the creative and tactile process of creating art.

Prior to the reopening of Eagle Point, and the introduction of Art of Our Soul, an inmates' general therapeutic treatment plan may have included individual and/or group counseling. Now, with the support of staff and clinicians, inmate treatment plans also include this new therapeutic art program, and staff are expecting improved outcomes.

"When we try new things, we see different results," says ADCRR Director Thornell, an advocate of Art of Our Soul. "Healed people lead to increased public safety. Ultimately, that's what we want to see."

Approximately 250 inmates will cycle through the Art of Our Soul program this year, in small groups, with each group spending about 5 weeks guided by facilitators who have lived experience. These facilitators are credible messengers offering something unique to the therapeutic environment: peer mentorship, which often inspires inmates as they start to see themselves differently.

More about the Art of Our Soul program can be found here (in the PDF attached to this story).