The proposed budget for the state prison system in the coming fiscal year reportedly includes a number of new Psych Tech positions to augment the 77 that already exist in 27 prisons.

In the fiscal year that begins July 1, the governor is proposing to add 54 personnel-years to the mental health care delivery system in the prisons. As of Outreach press time, it was not known how many of these might be Psych Tech jobs.

CAPT has been advised that Pelican Bay State Prison near the Oregon border is authorized for nine more Psych Tech positions. That would bring its Psych Tech workforce to 18 -- equal to those at the California Medical Facility prison in Vacaville.

The new Pelican Bay jobs are to include a Senior Psych Tech position -- the first direct upward mobility opportunity for Psych Techs in the Department of Corrections.

The state budget summary says the prison inmate population is expected to increase from 161,912 on June 30, 1998 to 171,610 by June 30, 1999 -- an increase of 9,698 inmates or 6 percent. For that reason, the budget proposes adding 2,039 personnel-years to the current prison workforce.

Since the department estimates 11 to 15 percent of all inmates have a serious mental illness, this indicates the potential of many more Psych Tech positions in the coming years.