Mentally Ill Offenders Essay

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A Report on the Issues Associated with Community Reentry of Mentally Ill Offenders
According to a report by the National Justice Statistics (NJS), more than 637,000 men and women are released from state and federal prisons each year to reenter society in the United States (Carson & Gonelli, 2013). Ex-offenders often face significant barriers that hinder most aspects of reintegration into the community, including psychosocial readjustment, societal stigma toward a criminal record, lack of education and social support, and difficulty securing employment, housing, and healthcare (Ethridge, Dunlap, Boston, & Staten, 2014; Baillargeon, Hoge, & Penn, 2010). Successful community reintegration is especially difficult for inmates suffering from a mental …show more content…

Colgan (2006) reports high recidivism rates nationwide for mentally ill offenders released from prison and that over half of state inmates had received three or more previous sentences. Additionally, research indicates a 64 percent re-arrest rate for mentally disordered offenders leaving prison in comparison to the 60 percent rate for individuals with no mental illness (Slate & Johnson, 2008).
The aforementioned number of individuals leaving prison each year coupled with the elevated recidivism rates of mentally disordered offenders becomes far more alarming when the prevalence of mental illness within the U.S. criminal justice system is presented. In a NJS report, James and Glaze (2006) found that over half of all jail and prison inmates had a mental health problem, including 705,600 (56%) state and 78,800 (45%) federal prison inmates.
The combination of the aforementioned statistics paints an unsettling picture for the criminal justice system as a revolving door for mentally ill offenders. This not only opposes criminal justice goals of offender rehabilitation and reintegration, but also the goal of protecting the public. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the issues specifically associated with mentally ill offenders reentering society from prison and to propose solutions that facilitate successful reintegration while maintaining public

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