The article I chose to read on the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill was entitled: “Victimization of the Mentally Ill: An Unintended Consequence of Deinstitutionalization”. According to this article, one issue the deinstitutionalization brought about that affected communities was the increased number of displaced, homeless, mentally ill patients. Because so many of these patients are left untreated, they are unable to cope in a normal society, often causing these deinstitutionalized patients to become part of the legal system. These misunderstood individuals often end up in the prison system, not receiving the assistance they require and eating up state funding.…
Torrey, E.F., Zdanowicz, M.T., Kennard, A.D., Lamb, H.R., Eslinger, D.F., Biasotti, M.I., Fuller, D.A. (2014). The treatment of persons with mental illness in prisons and jails: A state survey. Arlington, VA: Treatment Advocacy Center.…
The elimination of state mental hospitals was not based on human need, but rather a political policy decision. The shortage of mental institutions creates a shift in the role of prison systems and presents several different issues for mentally ill inmates. The inmates are not medically treated in…
In this article, the incarceration of the mentally ill is encouraged because it is safer than keeping them in mental institutions. It claims that mental institutions are extremely dangerous by their very nature and the nurses there are trained to treat the mentally ill, not to keep them from hurting themselves or other people. In prisons however, the guards are equipped with the experience of a 16 week training program and are able to handle any commotion that might be made without endangering the lives of the prisoners or the public. This viewpoint is contrary to that in Pete Earley’s book because it endorses the imprisonment of the mentally ill, while in contrast Earley strongly believes the mentally ill need treatment, not imprisonment.…
The United States prison system is notorious for the way it treats its inmates. There are so many theories, and facts to back up the claim that the prison system is not working the way it was intended to be, and it continues to be a growing issue that the government is not addressing. Further, within the already complicated prison system, there is another issue. Solitary confinement, which was originally supposed to be used as a short term punishment within prisons, or jails, has now become an integrated part of prison life (Edge, 2014). Solitary Nation, is 2014 documentary highlights the damages that solitary confinement is doing to people (Edge, 2014). Individuals whom have not shown any signs of degrading mental health come out of segregation, or as the inmates call it, “seg,” disturbed (Edge, 2014).…
There are now far more persons with mental illness in our nation’s jails and prisons than in state mental hospitals. See Michael Winerip, Bedlam on the Streets, N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE (May 23, 1999). A September 2006 Department of Justice report stated that as of mid-2005 “more than half of all prison and jail inmates had a mental health problem, including 705,600 inmates in State prisons, 78,800 in Federal prisons, and 479,900 in local jails.” Doris J. James and Lauren E. Glaze, Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates, U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (Sept. 2006).…
Mentally ill offenders are a growing population in the prison system and different actions are needed to treat, aid, and skillfully support these people. Today these offenders expenses in medical and special care escalate as well as people being trained to care for these individuals. Furthermore how do these offenders act inside the prisons once incarcerated and what characteristics are these offenders categorized…
America’s prisons have become a dumping ground for the mentally ill because non-prison treatment facilities are unavailable or unaffordable. PBS Frontlines documentary, The New Asylum, “goes deep inside Ohio’s state prison system to explore the complex and growing issue of mentally ill prisoners. With unprecedented access to prison therapy sessions, mental health treatment meetings, crisis wards, and prison disciplinary tribunals…” Five years later in 2005 film makers Karen O’Connor and Miri Navasky went back to the Ohio state prison to make a documentary, The Released, that uncovers what happens to the mentally ill when they are released. The Released shows that even though the mentally ill are being treated in the prisons, because they have no stable environment to go to and no way to take care of themselves, once released the inmates soon end up back in prison or homeless.…
The overall topic of my research paper is mental illness in jails. The population of individuals with a mental illness in jail with a mental illness is no small number by any means and the rate of individuals with a disability that are re-offenders is not compact either.…
The Frontline episode “The New Asylums”, dove into the crisis mentally ill inmates face in the psychiatric ward in Ohio state prisons. The episode shows us the conditions and every day lives of mentally ill patients in Ohio state prisons, and explains how these inmates got to this point. It appeared that most of these prisoners should have been patients in an institute of some sort, out in society, but unfortunately due to whatever circumstances they ended up in prison. According to the episode, most of the inmates end up in prison due to them not coping with the outside world on their own. Prior to becoming imprisoned, the inmates had difficulties dealing with the outside world. Mainly due to lack of necessary psychiatric treatment, the soon to be inmates would get arrested for things such as violent behavior, robbery, and rape. This behavior would cause them to go to jail, and after repeated offenses they end up falling into prison.…
The population of the mentally ill in prison is growing in result of the individuals not being treated properly in the community and while in prison. Officials believe that if you confine dangerous criminals it will decrease their sense of violence; however, Segregation is not an effective form of punishment for these individuals. Fitter treatment needs to be provided in prison for prisoners with mental illness as well as after their release. If the prison system does nothing, then mental illness associated with criminal behavior will be a never ending cycle in our society. Solitary confinement is detrimental to mental health; the conditions of solitary confinement increase the prisoner’s symptoms and mental illnesses and provoke…
Solitary confinement has been defined as being isolated of a prisoner alone in a separated cell as a punishment with very little environment stimulation and limited social interaction (Grassian, 1993). According to the Dangerous Overuse of Solitary Confinement in the United States in 2014, the purpose of solitary confinement is used to isolate or punish those considered as dangerous and who have violated the rules. Many prisoners were sent to solitary confinement are not violent criminals, instead many are suffer from severe mental illness or cognitive disabled who has difficulties functioning in prison setting (Dangerous Overuse of Solitary Confinement, 2014). Researchers have found approximately 30% of prisoners who have suffered from mental…
Prisons are slowly but surely becoming America’s new Asylums. An estimated 450 million people nationwide suffer from mental or behavioral disorders. These disorders are pretty common within prison populations. This extremely high rate of mental disorders in prison is closely related to several factors: the misconception that all people with mental disorders are a danger to the public, the failure to promote treatment, care, and rehabilitation, and the lack of access to mental health services. Many of these disorders are present before prison however, mental health disorders can also be developed during imprisonment due to human rights violations.…
Incarceration of the mentally ill is a social problem because studies have shown that a significantly high percentage of individuals incarcerated in the United States have been diagnosed with a mental illness. A Stanford Law school study has shown that prisons and jails have become the new mental health care facilities. In their study, they highlighted the findings of the National Sheriff’s Association and Treatment Advocacy center, that ten times the amount of mental ill individuals are incarcerated rather than being treated in mental health facilities. The Stanford Law school…
In conclusion, many problems stem from mental health illness when brought against the criminal justice system. Mental health illness can contribute to jail and prison overcrowding, high crime rates, drug addiction, and many other problems. After the wide deinstitutionalization of state hospitals, jails and prisons have seen an increase in the number and percentage of individuals with mental health and substance use. Furthermore,…