Clinical Services
Our Clinical Services team provides medical, dental, mental health, and inpatient care that promotes wellness, rehabilitation, and successful reentry upon release.
Licensed and credentialed clinicians, nurses, dentists, and behavioral health specialists work as part of a multidisciplinary care team to deliver appropriate, continuous, and high-quality treatment to all those in NCDAC custody.
Medical Services
Our clinicians ensure that each patient’s health needs are met throughout their incarceration and in preparation for their transition and continuity of care in the community. Care includes emergency, acute, chronic, routine and preventive health services delivered at every correctional facility. Clinicians emphasizes early identification and treatment of illness, continuity of care, and preventive medicine as cornerstones of a health. Specialists and community providers are consulted and included when advanced care is required.
Nursing Services
Our nurses are committed to improving health outcomes and ensuring each patient receives the highest standard of clinical and compassionate care. Our nursing team ensures ethical, safe, and patient-centered care across all facilities. Nurses serve as integral members of both the healthcare and custody teams, participating in the planning and delivery of evidence-based care. Care includes health assessments, medication administration, crisis intervention, wound management, patient education, and advocacy.
Inpatient Services
For patients requiring hospitalization or more complicated care, inpatient services are provided at the Central Prison Healthcare Complex and the NCCIW Healthcare Complex. Care includes acute and long-term medical care, ambulatory services, and specialty clinics, ensuring that complex health conditions can be managed within the correctional healthcare system. Central Prison Healthcare Complex (CPHC) provides operative services in partnership with community providers. When emergency or advanced care is required beyond in-house capacity. Our Inpatient Services staff coordinates with community hospitals and specialists.
Specialty Clinics and Telehealth Service
Specialty clinics at CPHC and NCCIW include orthopedics, podiatry, nephrology, audiology, ophthalmology, optometry, dermatology, infectious disease, and advanced dental specialties such as endodontics and oral surgery. Telehealth connectivity extends these services statewide.
The telehealth program links patients with practitioners and specialists in real time through secure video technology. Men and women in NCDAC facilities can access medical, psychiatric, and substance use treatment through telehealth services. The program is cost-effective, improves continuity and expands access to care, allows for more timely assessment and treatment. and enhances public safety.
Dental Services
Dentists and dental assistants provide comprehensive oral care to patients using modern equipment and techniques. Routine, urgent, and emergency treatment includes preventive services, restorative procedures, oral surgery, and prosthetic care. When complex or specialty dental services are required, community partners may assist in providing advanced treatment. Patients also receive oral hygiene education to support self-care.
Mental Health
Psychiatric, Psychology and Clinical Social Work Services
Psychologists, clinical social workers and other licensed mental health practitioners are assigned to facilities and provide direct mental health assessments and care. Our team delivers comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment for people with mental illness or substance use disorders, and for those with intellectual disabilities, and other developmental conditions. Services include diagnosis and treatment, crisis intervention, outpatient and inpatient care, and substance use treatment. Specialized programs address specific mental health needs such as sexual offense-specific treatment, day treatment for individuals with developmental disabilities, and therapeutic diversion units for patients with mental illness (in lieu of restrictive housing).
Psychiatric care is provided to those in our custody, including the “safekeeper” population. This includes treatment for substance use disorders, psychotic and bipolar disorders, trauma-related disorders, depression, anxiety, and personality disorders. Inpatient services are provided at the Central Prison Healthcare Complex and North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women Healthcare Complex.
Outpatient psychiatric care is delivered through telepsychiatry clinics at 30 NCDAC facilities, which expands access to mental health care, particularly in rural areas.
Alcoholism and Chemical Dependency Programs (ACDP)
The Alcoholism and Chemical Dependency Programs (ACDP) team promotes recovery and rehabilitation through screening, treatment, and reentry support for individuals with substance use disorders. ACDP recognizes addiction as a chronic, progressive, and treatable brain disease influenced by genetic, psychological, and environmental factors. Programs are grounded in evidence-based practices recommended by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Clinical staff follow the twelve core functions of substance use counseling, including screening, assessment, treatment planning, counseling, crisis intervention, and coordination of care.
ACDP offers four levels of service:
Community-based residential treatment
Prison-based intensive outpatient intermediate treatment
Prison-based intensive outpatient long-term treatment
Recovery Road Services, which focus on engagement, treatment access, aftercare, and reentry coordination
Together, these programs provide a continuum of care that promotes rehabilitation, reduces relapse, and supports an individual’s successful return to the community.
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For more information, contact us at: DACHealthServices@dac.nc.gov