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Essays on the affect that prisons have on mental health
Mental illness within the jail system
Mental illness within the jail system
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Some of the issues with incarcerating mentally ill patients for long periods of time include: jail/prison overcrowding that results from mentally ill inmates remaining behind bars longer than other prisoners, behavioral problems that are disturbing to other prisoners and correctional staff, physical attacks on correctional staff and other prisoners, deterioration in the psychiatric condition of inmates with mental illness as they go without the treatment, solitary confinement, which worsens symptoms of mental illness. (Cite Source 1 here) NOT Plagirised Mental health treatment can help some people recover from their illness and can alleviate painful symptoms, prevent deterioration, and protect them from suicide. It can improve independent
functioning and encourage the development of more effective controls.
The type of crimes that these offenders commit can either be minor or violent crimes. It has been an issue on how people think that having a mental illness leads to violent crimes, when in reality not all of them commit violent crimes. An example of an offender committing these type of crimes would be Johnnie Baxstrom. Johnnie Baxstrom was a mentally ill offender who had committed numerous crimes throughout his life like drinking and property offenses. It wasn’t until October 21, 1958 where he committed a violent act by attacking and stabbing a police officer with a knife. In essence, according to studies people with severe psychological illnesses are more than 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crimes than the general
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and of that over sixty percent of jail inmates reported having a mental health issue and 316,000 of them are severely mentally ill (Raphael & Stoll, 2013). Correctional facilities in the United States have become the primary mental health institutions today (Adams & Ferrandino, 2008). This imprisonment of the mentally ill in the United States has increased the incarceration rate and has left those individuals medically untreated and emotionally unstable while in jail and after being released. Better housing facilities, medical treatment and psychiatric counseling can be helpful in alleviating their illness as well as upon their release. This paper will explore the increasing incarceration rate of the mentally ill in the jails and prisons of the United States, the lack of medical services available to the mentally ill, the roles of the police, the correctional officers and the community and the revolving door phenomenon (Soderstrom, 2007). It will also review some of the existing and present policies that have been ineffective and present new policies that can be effective with the proper resources and training. The main objective of this paper is to illustrate that the criminalization of the mentally ill has become a public health problem and that our policy should focus more on rehabilitation rather than punishment.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, African Americans are more likely to be incarcerated compared to any other major ethnic groups (2010). One of the crucial problems or challenges experienced within prison is the need to provide appropriate mental health treatment services for the applicable diagnosis (U.S. Department of Justice 2011). However, these diagnoses are often skewed or directly influenced by race or an inmate’s racial background forming stigmas toward seeking out treatment among the other inmates. Stigma and race correlated with mental health diagnosis in a penitentiary or correctional facility continues to be a prevalent or widespread obstacle that leads to negative attitudes about mental treatment and ultimately deterring individuals who need services from seeking medical or psychiatric care.
... they are too jumbled to follow the many rules enforced by correctional facilities and, as a result, are more likely to be housed in solitary confinement: Numerous studies suggest further that “many offenders with serious mental illnesses cannot tolerate the severe conditions of solitary confinement and are particularly likely to experience mental and physical deterioration.“
Prior to taking this course, I generally believed that people were rightly in prison due to their actions. Now, I have become aware of the discrepancies and flaws within the Criminal Justice system. One of the biggest discrepancies aside from the imprisonment rate between black and white men, is mental illness. Something I wished we covered more in class. The conversation about mental illness is one that we are just recently beginning to have. For quite a while, mental illness was not something people talked about publicly. This conversation has a shorter history in American prisons. Throughout the semester I have read articles regarding the Criminal Justice system and mental illness in the United States. Below I will attempt to describe how the Criminal Justice system fails when they are encountered by people with mental illnesses.
If we go easy on them and set them free because they have a mental disorder, they can be a danger to society. For example, Micheal Fisher, who was accused of attempting to abduct a boy from a sports arena in Victoriaville. He was ultimately not found guilty due to mental illness,yet four years later there he is trying to commit the same crime again. It is people like him the reason why we should punish mentally ill offenders with incarceration. People, no matter if mentally disabled or not should be punished equally under the law. That's what it says on the American declaration of independence “...all men are created equal.”. Meaning, we are being fair in placing them in prison. If we put them in a mental institution, they will not listen. For example the attack on Jill Francis, a psychiatric technician who was punched by one of her patients. Even months after the incident, there's still a bruise under her left eye from reconstructive surgery. The person who punched her was Desmond Watkins, who has been previously imprison for assault with a deadly weapon. Francis said that Watkins “..just got fixated all of a sudden that he wanted to go back to prison, and that by hitting someone that would enable him to go back”.This shows that mentally ill offenders are dangerous and unpredictable, and should not be release or treated, but
In "Prison Studies" Malcolm X briefly details how, during his incarceration, he embarked on a process of self-education that forever changed him and the course of his life. Malcolm writes of his determination to learn to read and write, born out of his envy and emulation of Bimbi, a fellow prisoner. His innate curiosity, sense of pride, and ambition to learn and be someone of substance motivated him to study relentlessly. As he learned more about the world he developed a great thirst for knowledge that left him with a lifelong desire that only his continued studies could satisfy. He believed that prison offered him the best possible situation in which to educate himself.
Putting mentally ill offenders in prison actually worsens their health status. Being in prison causes them major stress. Having a mentally ill offender in prison can be a danger to them as well as the other inmates. Many times these offenders are not able to control their actions and will sometimes approach violently to other inmates. Male offenders can be very harsh to each other, especially towards a mentally ill. Mentally ill offenders suffer from physical and sexual abuse from others, and sometimes even from the security staff. These situations occur because mentally ill offenders require a lot of supervision, which prisons do not always offer. These mentally ill offenders do not receive the care that they should be provided with and this causes them to go insane. Most of the time when these mentally ill offenders break the rules they are sent to solitary confinement. They are left isolated without any proper care. There has been many cases reported in which these inmates are ending their life while being in solitary
There are several populations within my community, in which brings great interest to me. One in which attracts me the most is number of mentally ill patients who are being incarcerated for small crimes such as trespassing or robbing the thrift store. The South Carolina mental health state hospital had to close their doors due to the limited funding to keep the facility open. As a result, some of the patients were transferred to local short term mental health centers and they were released into the communities. The patient would go out and commit crimes such as trespassing and the judge would sentence with some years in the prison. The jail and prisons are being used as a “mental health warehouse”(Huxter, 2012, p. 735). Being in a structured
Throughout county jails, there is a large population with serious healthcare needs, such as mental illnesses and medical conditions; The majority of these individuals are not violent criminals, most of the inmates have not gone to trial and the rest are serving short sentences for minor crimes. However, few jails are equipped to provide the extensive mental health services that are needed for these individuals. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (2015), only one-third of individuals who enter jail with mental conditions are receiving proper treatment. Since the mentally ill inmates do not receive the proper treatment, they suffer and the
As a correctional officer, I have seen my share of the mentally ill serving time in prison. One case in particular was that of a woman in her mid 30's. This woman suffered from autism and could not form words well. On occasion she could hold a small conversation but had the language skills of a child. Usually, when it came time for lockdown she would refuse to go in her cell because she was afraid to be alone. When forced she would become violent. I saw this woman break a microwave in half as well as the officer;s computer. Having this knowledge allows me to develop the opinion that neuroscience does have a place in the criminal justice system and should in fact be considered more when considering placement. This individual was sentenced
It depends, however, the mentally ill should not be incarcerated with the general population in prison. The mentally ill offenders should be evaluated at a psychiatric facility if it has been deemed that the illness has caused them to commit the crime in the first place. For example, when someone who has been in the Armed forces commits a serious assault they are normally under the mental health act since there are some of the most violent mental health cases known. Some people who say they are ex-forces can be unexpected and aggressive, it may be years before they realize they have this problem such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Furthermore, a person who has committed heinous crimes such as a rapist,
When thinking of prison, like one normally and frequently does, the thought of high security prison being run like a mental institution probably doesn't cross your mind. When the thought of jail comes to mind, one thinks about those who have committed heinous crimes and need to pay the price. But in Ohio after mental hospital was closed and patients, stable or not, released back into society many mentally ill did not know how to cope with the transition and quickly found themselves behind bars. Seeing as the courts are more apt to send those with mental diseases to a correctional Institution after committing crime, petty or not. In the institution, they would be able to receive the help needed to become more stable.
Mental disorders are rapidly becoming more common with each new generation born in the world. Currently, nearly one in two people suffer from some form of depression, anxiety, or other mental health problem at some point in their lives (Editor). With so many people suffering from their mental illnesses, steps have been taken in order to get help needed for these people but progress has been slow. In the medical world, hospitals are treating those with physical problems with more care than those with mental problems. Prescription drugs can only do so much helping the mentally ill go through their daily lives and more should be done to help those who need more than medicine to cope with their illness. Mental health should be considered just as important as physical health because of how advanced physical healing is, how the public reacts to those with mental illness, and due to the consequences that could happen if the illness is not correctly helped.
Mental illness is a problem affecting a large majority of the world's population with approximately 450 million people worldwide suffering from these complex diseases (Mental Disorders Affect One in Four People). Similar to other major diseases humans experience, mental illness provides people with an abundant amount of disputes and boundaries they must surmount.