Stage one, the "inmate model," extended from 1900 to approximately 1975. During this period, inmates often provided mental health services to each other, largely because mental health clinics were understaffed and untrained. Inmates counseled and restrained inmates and also dispensed medication to those with behavioral problems. The Federal courts' application of standards for State mental health hospitals to prisons fostered the demise of the "inmate model." Stage two, the "court model," was marked by Federal courts' dictating to State prison systems the nature and scope of required mental health services for inmates. Corrections mental health service providers began measuring their success in terms of the prevention or relief of pain and suffering associated with serious mental illness. Standards focus on the right to quality services, transfer for treatment, the treatment relationship, and consent. Stage three, the "rehabilitation model," involves only a few States. It includes the case management and crisis intervention services characteristic of the first stage and also relies on the traditional mental health treatment mandated by the Federal courts in the second stage. This third stage also entails some innovative treatment approaches used to rehabilitate inmates who do not have mental illness. Prison mental health services should continue to provide quality mental health care that prevents and treats illness; to develop and use case management that emphasizes long-term, prosocial adjustment; to develop a patient tracking system; and to establish graduate programs in correctional mental health care. 5 references