Guilty But Mentally Ill

Regardless of what you might see on TV the verdict of “not guilty by the reason of insanity” is an immensely rare plea for anyone. A majority of offenders with a mental illness still end up incarcerated. Even though the United States only makes up 5% of the world's population we account for 25% of the world's prisoners. Which converts to 2.2 million prisoners and about 1.2 million of those people have a mental illness (Fellner). Mental illness within our jails and prisons has become very prevalent within our correctional systems over the last 10 years. The number of men and women who have a mental illness that end up in jail or prison grows day by day. For those who do not go into the prison with a mental illness, will very likely develop some form of mental illness after being released from incarceration. The mentally ill do not belong in prison, the purpose for incarceration is retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation, and though it is originally meant for all of these purposes, it has lost its meaning. Correctional facilities are not built to provide treatment for the mentally ill, and the people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness cannot get the long-term treatment they need inside of a prison cell.

Despite the fact that my parents have worked in the criminal justice system for many years, I have never given much thought to the treatment of prisoners. As we learned from the readings, the current state of the United States criminal justice system is imperfect to the point of cruelty to those involved in it. This is truer for individuals with a mental illness. Due to a lack of psychiatric facilities throughout Alabama and overcrowding of those that do exist, many criminal offenders with mental illnesses are sent to prisons instead. State prisons are currently overcrowded, leading to substandard conditions such in almost every aspect.

The incarceration of those who are mentally ill is on the continual rise. Many states juggle with the decision of placing offenders in Mental Hospital or locating them in State Prisons. Latessa and Holsinger (2011) discuss two major reasons for the increase of those with mental illness within the prison system. First, many states have no longer allow for the insanity plea during criminal trials, thus those who suffer from mental illness are not required to receive mandatory mental treatment. This is due to the discomforting idea that criminal offenders should not be given the same living conditions as those whom are patients of mental wards. Secondly, longer sentences have created a surplus of mentally ill offenders needing treatment. Soderstrom (2007) added that the lack of mental health support systems in

Given the number of incarcerated inmates who suffer from some form of mental illness, there are growing concerns and questions in the medical field about treatment of the mentally ill in the prison system. When a person with a mental illness commits a crime or break the law, they are immediately taken to jail or sent off to prison instead of being evaluated and placed in a hospital or other mental health facility. “I have always wondered if the number of mentally ill inmates increased since deinstitutionalization” Since prison main focus is on the crimes inmates are incarcerated; the actual treatment needed for the mentally ill is secondary. Mentally ill prisoners on the surface may appear to be just difficult inmates depending on the

The shutdown of state mental hospitals and lack of available financial and institutional resources force mentally ill people to the United States Judicial System for mental health. Every year thousands of people are arrested for various crimes and they are sent to jail. Sixteen percent of these people have some type of mental health problem (Public Broadcasting System , 2001). When we consider that the United States has the largest incarcerated population in the world at 2.2 million, this number is staggering (Anasseril E. Daniel, 2007). This is about 1% of the entire population of the United States. There are many reasons as to why the situation has taken such a bad turn and when the history of the treatment of mental illness is examined one can see how the situation developed into the inhumane disaster it is today.

There have been many recent cases coming from early releases and a lack of jail time served. Good behavior release is not appropriate because criminals receive too much time off just to commit the crime again; the proper solution would be to limit this on a federal level. A lenient judge makes it unfair to those who are properly sentenced because other get off with basically a slap on the wrist; making a minimum sentence for all who are found guilty of rape or murder would help keep it fair for everyone and ensure they serve a proper sentence. Letting criminals not serve jail time because of an insanity plea is just a way for them to avoid serving their time; if a person uses insanity defense, they should be required to get brain scans, and they should serve their jail time with a rehabilitation plan after they are let out. As it is best said in the Telegraph, “rape victims receive life sentences for the crimes against them.” The victims and their families have to deal with this for the rest of their lives, when sometimes, the murderers or rapists only deal with it for a few years. They are then free to go, and they could go commit the same crimes

While it would beneficial to society to put away these kinds of people, it would be more beneficial to put them in isolation (solitary confinement), away from other people so that they cannot bring harm to themselves or anyone else. This would keep them away from the public and shows that while they cannot control their own actions, they should be held accountable in some way or another. The mentally challenged should not be accountable for their actions on the same terms as normal people.”Today, it is estimated that 90% of UK prisoners have a diagnosable mental illness or substance abuse problem (Office for national statistics)”. Most of these prisoners were charged with not having a mental disability. If they were to have a known disability they would have gotten help and a lesser of a

Care and treatment for the Mentally Disordered Offender (MDO) has always reflected society’s intolerance and punitive attitude, typified by a desire to remove persons with mental illness from public sight (Gostin, 1983). Traditionally, health care for this population was provided in institutions until the 1950s. De-institutionalisation and large-scale closures of psychiatric institutes in the 1980s resulted from therapeutic advancement and the advent of psychotropic medication, which in turn led to a need to provide care and treatment in the least restrictive setting (Geller et al, 2006 ; Morrow e al 2003). Many patients were discharged,

The criminal justice system is riddled with a vast number of offenders. Particularly, these offenders are all diverse not only by the crimes they commit, but by their own personal criminogenic characteristics. A tremendously prevalent offender population that is currently being incarcerated at increasing rates is the mentally ill offender population (Moore & Hiday, 2006). This special type of offender population necessitates a completely different approach when punishing, rehabilitating, and re-entering them throughout these various processes. There is an immense amount of literature presently being conducted to aid the criminal justice system in being able to handle these offenders in a more appropriate way. However, according to Moore &

I think the main problems with prisoners suffered with mental health illness is a chance for parole. The fact that there is no chance of parole for individuals to get treatment for his/her health condition. Also, prior to their probation, they were sent straight to jail or prison where they were said to serve a sentence, which then leads to no actual treatment opportunities for individuals. I think that if a criminal with mental health problems being served with a determinate sentence than he or she should first spend some time in a mental hospital until their health conditon become more stable than serve the remainder of his sentence in a prison or jail.

It is a hard thing to say honestly as law enforcement agencies across the nation struggle to help those on their calls that suffer mental illness. Rehabilitation really ties into restorative justice and Siegel and Worrall (2014) highlight how the resolution of whatever crime was committed to whatever victim should take place in the community of which it occurred in, not in some prison across the state or across the nation. I believe that if we follow a restorative, rehabilitative model, we can see a decrease in the number of offenders reoffending. Canadian psychologists hypothesized that to lower recidivism, treatment should be aimed at improving things like low self-control or associations with ones peers. What was found of their study was there was a twenty-five percent lower recidivism rate following these basic six principles: targeting known causes and predictors of recidivism to be changed; use cogitative- behavioral treatments to treat the behaviors, thought processes, and also showing alternatives to actions; focus these interventions on those that are at a higher risk of recidivism; have a staff that are trained and equipped to treat these offenders; and follow up care following the conclusion of their program, probation, or whatever conditions the court sets out. Twenty-five percent is a huge reduction (“Rehabilitation-Does Correctional Rehabilitation Work,”

Offenders might also infringe on dissimilar stages on parole. Some offenders might have never made their entrance report so there has never been any modification to supervision. Offenders might have just worsened from drugs or might have gotten worse mentally. The magistrate will make the decision. If the offender has done something violently illegal, for which the victim have been violated, normally that will go to a disputed trial and the victims will need to testify. If it is just a difficulty of technical violation and the judge don’t think the offender is a risk to society, that person will normally end up in a treatment program. Occasionally, the specialist will dispute that the offender is a threat to society. The specialist will sometimes will have an opinion on that and express it to the judge. Ultimately it is the judge’s decision if the offender is sent to treatment or the individual has to be incarcerated until they find a treatment program. The mentally ill is defiantly a candidate for staying incarcerated until treatment is

Throughout the ages, society has debated why mental disabilities occur and how to treat those with disabilities. One big concern is serving justice when someone who is mentally ill commits a crime. As our society has learned more about mental defects, the way we treat people with them has to change. As we consider the treatment of the mentally ill across the ages, we see that justice can bring about more equitable and humane treatment.

It is true that correctional institutions are in need of better approaches to mental health offenders that are truly in need of specific help and treatment. These offenders normally are not able to stand trial due to their instability to understand their surroundings. To add to, the proper facilities and court professionals’ approaches should be implemented in order to ensure individuals receives to properly care for mental illness. As you stated, there should be more awareness of medications and the correct therapy within a therapeutic setting. Although the two approaches mentioned may not correct in mind and thought process, but it may help assist the memory and mental state of the individual.

disorders who have been charged with committing minor offences, can be diverted towards mental health services to help ensure that they receive the treatment they need and also contribute to reducing the prison