"Do prisons have psychiatrists on the ground? It's a good question and yes, it is the law that they have to have medical staff and mental health professionals in the prison. Unfortunately, you don't see them that often. You have to fill out a sick call to go to mental health other than the entry process where you go through medical and see a mental health person, then you get sent to your dorm. That's a very brief interaction. Beyond that, you have to ask to go see them and you can be waiting for a long time. If you say you're suicidal, you'll be stripped of everything, put in a cell and monitored for 72 hours until you verbally say you no longer want to take your life. Because protecting your physical life is all they care about. Mental health is a very low priority. I did time with women who would self harm and psychiatrists would give them rubber bands and they would snap them if they felt anxious and prison guards were taking these rubber bands from them. The psychiatrists wanted to do so much more than they were allowed to do. But unfortunately, per state law and the guidelines, they can't do what they want to do."