Mental Illness In State Prisons

Different illnesses evolve around the world. Offenders enter with mentally illnesses when being incarcerated to a state prison or facilities. 55% males inmates and 75% females inmates are mentally ill in state prisons. Mentally ill inmates are often a threat towards other or themselves and face challenges such as being by themselves or being under medication or face abuse.
Mental ill inmates can be a danger to other inmates. They often tend to attack other inmates by stabbing them with self made objects, physical fighting inmate on inmate, and brutally beating them to death. The offenders can be abusive towards other inmates by threatening them to do something they do not intend to do. They can attack guards and the people who try to help

them like a Psychologist. These inmates cause harm to others because they are not on their right state of mind because they do not know from right to wrong.
However, on the other hand these inmates can be a danger to themselves by committing suicide, may cause inflicted wounds to themselves, or overdose on their medication because of the stress of being isolated or not being able to stay stable to control themselves.
Challenges mentally ill offenders face are physically and emotionally abuse from guards and the system.

The abuse the inmates receive from the guards are they are “being doused with chemical sprays, shocked with electronic stun guns and strapped for hours to chairs or beds.” -Timothy Williams. These “security guards also taunt these mentally ill inmates until they scream, bang their head against the wall or defected in their cells.” -George Mallinckrodt. Guards take advantage of these unstable inmates because these offender do not understand what may be happening so they are an easy target for the guards. For example, there has been a case study in Miami Florida June 2012. The death of a mentally inmate Darren Rainey 50, occurred at Dade Correctional Institution when he was thrown into a steaming shower left to die by prison officers. Rainey was taken to a shower by prisons officers who locked the door and left him in the shower for two hours. Staff arrived at the scene to remove Rainey from the shower and performed CPR. His skin began to peel off due to the exposure of water and humidity. The nurse who took his temperature resulted in 102 degrees rather than normal 98.6 degrees. 12 hours after his death his temperature was 94 degrees. Investigators ruled his death accidental and could not prove if the shower was hot the day he fainted. These officers had done it to other mentally ill inmates and had got away with them as well as the Darren Rainey case. This case proves how

prison officers abuse the system by taking advantage of these mentally ill offenders.
Mentally ill inmates always face the challenge of always being under medication and treatment.

These prisons help them get stable by providing treatment programs to them for they can learn how to become stable, have self-control and to function properly. After these mentally ill inmates serve their time, jails that are associated with community clinics who provide treatment, on-site screening and follow ups after these inmates have been released. These offenders have a challenge of being in isolation or solitary due to being harmful by attacking inmates or prison guards and also can cause self- harm to

themselves.
The population of mentally ill offenders adjustment to incarceration by being forced to follow the prison rules, policies and conditions of imprisonment in order to be able to survive. These inmates go through a psychological change when they are locked up in the prisons because of the adaptations and frustrations in these facilities. It is hard for these offenders to adjust because they have no idea what is happening because they are unstable to understand.
In conclusion, mentally ill offenders are a challenge because they are always in the need of attention so they can not hurt anyone or hurt themselves, reason why they always have to be under medication and alone. Not only, these offenders may have done something in their past but they face challenges of being abused by guards or taken advantage. In my opinion towards the mentally ill offenders is they are dangerous and should always have the attention they need so they can be able to function but these inmates go through a lot while they are serving their sentences.