Jennifer Bigham Insanity Dichotomy

The United States has the highest rate of incarceration among the developed countries, with 2.2 million currently in jails and prisons. The number of inmates with mental disorders has been increasing during the past three decades, most likely the result of the deinstitutionalization of the state mental health system. Correctional institutions have become the de facto state mental hospitals. There are more seriously and persistently mentally ill people in prisons than in all state hospitals in the United States. When incarcerated these people face many disadvantages on top of their sickness. They do not receive the psychiatric help they need, nor do they receive proper medication or therapy. In addition, the guards do not know how to properly deal with people with mental disabilities. With so many issues in the criminal justice system there is no room for improvement for these inmates.

In recent years, correctional facilities have begun to experience an influx of inmates who suffer with mental illness. Per Morgan, et al (2011), ?the United States has three times more individuals with severe mental illnesses in prisons than in psychiatric hospitals.? Most prisons in this country aren?t equipped to properly care for the mentally ill persons who enter the facility. Individuals with mental illness are more likely to be placed in prisons rather than a mental health institution to receive help to deal

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.

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.

Andrea Yates was a mother of five who lived in a Houston suburb. Andrea suffered from serve postpartum depression and psychosis which unfortunately lead her to drown all five of children in a bath tub one afternoon. Andrea was charged with capital murder and was given life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. However, she filed an appeal, and her original sentence was overturned, and she was found in innocent in 2006 on reason of insanity. I’m going to explain her upbringing and her mental health influenced her to murdering her children.

The United States criminal justice system has been continuously increasing incarceration among individuals who suffer from a sever mental illness. As of 2007 individuals with severe mental illness were over twice as likely to be found in prisons than in society (National Commission of Correctional Health Care, 2002, as cited in Litschge &Vaughn, 2009). The offenses that lead to their commitment in a criminal facility, in the majority of cases, derive from symptoms of their mental illness instead of deviant behavior. Our criminal justice system is failing those who would benefit more from the care of a psychiatric rehabilitation facility or psychiatric hospital by placing them in correctional facilities or prisons.

The concept of insanity as a defence was established in the early eighteenth century in the Arnold’s case (1724) and was further developed in the late 18th century in the Hadfield’s case (1800), but the standart test of criminal liability was only formed after the case of Daniel M’Naghten (1843). This case established the special verdict of ‚‘not guilty by reason of insanity‘.

Hari, 218 Ill 2d. 275 (2006). The charges, in this case, was attempted murder of his wife, and the murder of her lover. He was sentenced to prison for 48 years for murder and an additional 25 years for the attempt. The case was appealed due to the defendant’s involuntarily intoxication. The defendant had been taking an antidepressant and mixed it with Tylenol PM. The defendant claimed to be in a confused state. It was like he was there, but not there. The defendant had a psych evaluation, thought the doctor claimed that he had many problems, he was sane. According to the Supreme Court, there was evidence that the defendant was involuntarily intoxicated to do the mixed drugs Zoloft and Tylenol, last of sleep and his previous alcohol dependency. The jury didn’t know that the defendant had to be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This case was sent back to the circuit court for a new

For years, the insanity defense has developed and turned into a difficult but sometime successful defense system in a court of law. The exact law changes from state to state however the main idea remains the same. The insanity defense could apply or be used on a person who is considered legally insane. They must have a severe mental disease or defect and must prove they were at the time of the crime, legally insane. Also said person has to prove they didn’t know the impact, quality or the nature of their act or acts (The Insanity).

This research paper discusses the issues of people who suffer from mental illness being placed in jails instead of receiving the necessary treatment they need. The number of inmates serving time in jail or prison who suffer from mental illness continues to rise. In 2015 the Bureau of Justice reported that sixty five percent of state prisoners and fourth five percent of federal prisoners suffered from mental conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Individuals who suffer from these problems require special mental health treatment for their needs to be met. Many of our prisons and jails lack the necessary resources to care for these inmates and because of that inmates who do not receive the treatment they need are at a higher risk of becoming a repeat offender. Despite the research and findings that show that the criminal justice system is unable to deal with issues dealing with the mentally ill there has been limited solutions put in place. Given the challenges the criminal justice system faces it is important to address the problem and come up with better solutions. This research paper will discuss the various techniques and solutions that scholars have propped and their effect on the issue of mentally ill criminals and how the criminal justice system should approach the problem.

Some of the most common mental health problem is depressive disorder (21%), bipolar disorder (12%), and anxiety disorder (8%). Only 5% of that population reported having schizophrenia or any other psychotic disorder (Kim, 2015). One third of state prisoners with mental illness reported getting mental health treatment. More people get treatment in prisons than in jails, but the system still fails to provide help to every single individual in need. However, it may not be always an issue with the system because some prisoners are not eager to seek treatment because they fear victimization, since there is still a lot of stigma that comes with a mentally ill “tag”. If person is not receiving any treatment, which is about 75% of all mentally ill prisoners, his symptoms will only get worse over time. Thus, studies have revealed that older prisoners have higher rates of mental illness than younger prisoners (Angelotti, 2010). However, because people are sent to prison for a longer period of time mentally ill individuals can plan a long term treatment. Still prisons as well as jails are not equipped to handle individuals with special needs. Prisons as jails have a limited list of medications that can be used. The main priority of administration in prison is provision of security and basic needs. Treatment of individuals with mental

It is very disappointing to find that the best sort of psychiatric care an underprivileged mentally-ill person can get is from prison. Even though the U.S is known as one of the most-developed countries, our healthcare is infamously referred to be one of the worst amongst other developed countries. However, it was shocking to see how released prisoners were willing to be incarcerated again to be treated for their illness in The New Asylums. According to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), statistics show that about 54% of state prison inmates are diagnosed with a mental illness. The steps to create an effective system to treat these mentally ill patients will be a long and hard process, but is necessary to improve healthcare in the U.S.

The number and acuity level of inmates in correctional settings with mental health disorders continues to increase. The harsh, institutional climate of correctional facilities is the antithesis of a therapeutic environment, causing many mentally ill inmates to decompensate rather than recover.

The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law recently reported that “more than half of all prison and jail inmates have a mental health problem compared with just 11 percent of the general population, yet only one in three prison inmates and one in six jail inmates receive any form of mental health treatment” (American Academy of psychiatry and the law). This quote shows how the prison system fails to provide the necessary supports to the mentally ill when incarcerated. This could be connected to to why the revitism rates for prisoners are so high and why prisoners come out of jail more impaired than when they went in. Although according to an article from The Pew Charitable Trusts “there are now three hundred mental health courts which direct mentally ill patients to treatment services instead of