Incarceration vs Treatment: Mentally Ill Offenders in America

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The incarceration of mentally ill offenders is a big problem in America. Many of these offenders are not hospitalized whatsoever before entering prison. There has been a lot of conflict dealing with the way that mentally ill offenders are being punished. The incarceration of mentally ill offenders is not effective. There is many other ways that mentally ill offenders can be treated instead of being sent to prison without proper treatment. A terrifying amount of mentally ill offenders end up in prison every year. About 55 percent of male offenders in prison are mentally ill. That is about one million prisoners in America alone. Studies show that half of the prisoners in the world have at least one mental disorder. Prisons are now the biggest mental health care centers in America, ruling out mental institutions. More mentally ill offenders are being held …show more content…

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

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