NCCHC News

New Board Chair Aims to Build Correctional Health Work Force

As a third-year medical student, Joseph Penn, MD, CCHP, did a rotation in a maximum security prison hospital. The assignment would have horrified his mother, had he told her, but he found it fascinating. Later, while training in general and then forensic psychiatry, he again found himself working in correctional settings. Penn says he was lucky to have such priceless formative experiences. Now, as chair of NCCHC’s board of directors, he wants to extend such opportunities to large pools of fledgling health professionals.

Penn views correctional health professionals and support staff as everyday heroes, and says it is vital to “get the word out” about the rewards of this career path. In particular, he sees great promise in collaborating with academic institutions. “We need to grow the next generation of correctional health professionals,” he says. “We must find ways to partner with residency and other training programs.” Getting involved with NCCHC was another important way Penn developed his correctional health career and he is confident that, with its strong educational mission, NCCHC can take a leading role in such initiatives.

From Texas to Rhode Island and Back Again
Always one to find opportunity in challenge, Penn enjoyed all aspects of medicine as a student but was particularly drawn to psychiatry because, unlike medical science, so many questions remain unsettled, and practice is as much art as science. His developed a special interest in juvenile populations because youth tend to be more open than adults, and as a practitioner he can respond in kind. “With adults, you have to maintain a neutral professional stance,” Penn explains. “Kids read through that quickly and will just tell you what’s on their mind. With them, I can go shoot hoops and be more spontaneous.”

A native of San Antonio, Penn’s early career took shape in Rhode Island, where until recently he was a hospital director of child and adolescent forensic psychiatry and director of psychiatric services for the state’s juvenile correctional system. He also taught at a university and medical school. But he always intended to return to Texas, and this summer he accepted dual jobs with UTMB Correctional Managed Care and the Texas Youth Commission (see CV in Brief). He moved to Houston—just in time for Hurricane Ike.

The storm was a setback, but it had a silver lining in that staffing difficulties led to stronger collaboration between UTMB and the TYC. “We hope to share some faculty and staff,” Penn says. In general, mental health staff recruitment and retention is a major responsibility, and challenge, of his job. He also does extensive education and advocacy among legislators, policy makers and the public. It’s important that these groups understand the concepts behind treatment that is constitutionally mandated and clinically necessary, he notes.

Given his intense commitment and his compassion for children, it’s no surprise that Penn says his wife describes him as “a grown-up adolescent.” That trait serves him well in raising his two sons, ages 10 and 13. Even in warm south Texas, he and the boys remain avid fans and players of “the greatest sport in the world”: ice hockey.

(Fall 2008)