Corrections Final Paper
Final Paper
Student ID: Maya DeNola
California State University Long Beach
CRJU 303 – Corrections
December 12, 2012
Professor: Ryan Fischer
Table of Content
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..2
Historical perspective ……………………………………………………………………………..5
Current Policy surrounding mental health treatment in prisons…………………………………..7
Evidence to support the current/historical correctional approaches………………………………9
Evidence to refute the current/historical correctional approaches……………………………….10
Evidence of innovative correctional approaches………………………………………………...11
Suggested approach to address the issue ………………………………………………………..12
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….13
References………………………………………………………………………………………..14
Severe, persistent and untreated mental illness is running rampant in prison populations in the United States. Mental Health is defined as psychological wellbeing and satisfactory adjustment to society and to the ordinary demands of life” (Dictionary. Com, N.D). In contrast, a “mental illness” is a disorder of psychological well-being which impairs one’s ability to function satisfactorily in society and “often results in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life” (National Alliance on Mental Illness, N.D.). A 2002 study found that severe and persistent mental illness is present in prison populations in the U.S. at a rate twice that of all U.S. mental hospitals combined (Danesh & Fazel, 1989); with antisocial personality disorder at a “ten-fold excess” (Danesh and Fazel, 1989. p.548). If Antisocial Personality disorder is, as Dr. Sherry Whatley a veteran therapist at the Giddings State School, a juvenile corrections institution for capital offenders in central Texas suggests, the hallmark of criminality (Hubner, 2005. p.58), then there is a correlation between the experience of incarceration and the prevalence of mental illness (Danesh & Fazel, 1989; Brandt, 2012. p. 552-553).
Student ID: Maya DeNola
California State University Long Beach
CRJU 303 – Corrections
December 12, 2012
Professor: Ryan Fischer
Table of Content
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..2
Historical perspective ……………………………………………………………………………..5
Current Policy surrounding mental health treatment in prisons…………………………………..7
Evidence to support the current/historical correctional approaches………………………………9
Evidence to refute the current/historical correctional approaches……………………………….10
Evidence of innovative correctional approaches………………………………………………...11
Suggested approach to address the issue ………………………………………………………..12
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….13
References………………………………………………………………………………………..14
Severe, persistent and untreated mental illness is running rampant in prison populations in the United States. Mental Health is defined as psychological wellbeing and satisfactory adjustment to society and to the ordinary demands of life” (Dictionary. Com, N.D). In contrast, a “mental illness” is a disorder of psychological well-being which impairs one’s ability to function satisfactorily in society and “often results in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life” (National Alliance on Mental Illness, N.D.). A 2002 study found that severe and persistent mental illness is present in prison populations in the U.S. at a rate twice that of all U.S. mental hospitals combined (Danesh & Fazel, 1989); with antisocial personality disorder at a “ten-fold excess” (Danesh and Fazel, 1989. p.548). If Antisocial Personality disorder is, as Dr. Sherry Whatley a veteran therapist at the Giddings State School, a juvenile corrections institution for capital offenders in central Texas suggests, the hallmark of criminality (Hubner, 2005. p.58), then there is a correlation between the experience of incarceration and the prevalence of mental illness (Danesh & Fazel, 1989; Brandt, 2012. p. 552-553).
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