Mental Illness In Correctional Facilities

The number of aging people in the prison system has and will continue to have a major impact on health care. Not only while they are in jail but once they are released the cost of health care for these individuals is still a burden. While incarcerated many illnesses go untreated. Usually there are a couple different factors in this situation, one is mental health and the other is unmet psychosocial needs. Many people that are employed by the prison system don’t have the proper training to know how to test for the vast mental illnesses that need to be tested for. Then on the other hand if they have the training they are understaffed and don’t have time to get to everyone that needs the help. While there has been many studies on how to improve health care while in prison, there is still a lot of research that needs to be done to get a better handle on the financial aspect.

Authors in this article from the University of California observe and focus on the risks and rates involved in people that have a mental disorder and correlate it with incarceration as well as people with re-incarceration. While performing these studies researchers found an alarming number of people incarcerated had a severe mental illness and substance abuse issues. Much of the knowledge in numbers of people with a mental illness are brought from a correctional view, but researchers here try to also focus on numbers of people in the public mental health system as well.

As a whole, literature on the topic of mental illness in our country and specifically in our criminal justice system had a reoccurring theme. There are millions of individuals who suffer from mental illness but are improperly being handled through the criminal justice system. These individuals are deemed criminal just by their acts and their mental health state is not overly examine. Jails and prisons are being overcrowded. State prisons and jails are overpopulated anywhere from 15 to 32% (Spending Money in All the Wrong Places: Jails & Prisons).

Most of my nursing career has been in clinics that serve patients who rely on government assisted programs and who have limited funding and resources. The last four years I have been dedicated to serving patients within the correctional settings. While this field of nursing can be very challenging at times it is also very rewarding knowing that I am a patient advocate for individuals who often get over looked do to some of their choices and their current situations. I am very passionate about providing healthcare and education to patients who are often times misunderstood due to learning differences. I have a very strong belief that our mental health is affecting the correctional population. Many patients are placed in correctional settings because they cannot conform to society or because they are unable to express and understand the reason they make some of the poor choices which lead them into a life behind

Mental health is a very important aspect of life that one would want to take care of. When it comes to prisons within the United States, this is taken very seriously within some prisons, and not so serious within others. The question is, now often are those with mental health problems taken seriously and how often are those with mental health problems have their needs properly met and taken care of?

As stated by Mental Health America (MHA), “On any given day, between 300,000 and 400,000 people with mental illnesses are incarcerated in jails and prisons across the United States, and more than 500,000 people with mental illnesses are under correctional control in the community”. Mental Health Treatment in Correctional Facilities policy was put in to place on March 7, 2015 due to the ignored rights to mental health medical services that incarcerated individuals face. The policy sets a standard to how incarcerated individuals are to be treated, and protects the rights of the vulnerable individuals.

Finally, looking at the safety of the mentally ill inmates is crucial especially when solitary confinement is involved. It has been suggested that even inmates without mental health issues can experience psychological breakdowns when they are isolated for long periods of time. Revising protocols and procedures of solitary confinement could lessen or prevent the amount of critical incidents that are seen due to the isolation of an inmate.

Many individuals in prison have mental health and addiction problems. The only way they can be helped is by our system offering lower-cost alternatives to incarceration to address the problem which led them to criminal activity. Studies have indicated that only 10% or fewer inmates received mental health care while incarcerated which in turn is costly and ineffective. Studies have shown it cost $1.8 billion to house mentally ill offenders whom return quickly to the correctional system because these systems lack aftercare planning and communities lack sufficient services to meet their needs. If correctional staff and programs in the community could expand services as well as provide better coordination then it could help stabilize mentally ill offenders in the community, cut down criminal activity and prevent the return to jail or prison. The more often an individual is incarcerated the more likely they are a substance abuser. Once the person is release from a lengthy sentence with no skills to address the addiction, it’s actually the same skills they had when entering the system. Its clear treatment is more effective because it has been proven that individuals will less likely be arrested, less likely to use drugs again as well as being more effective in reducing drug-related crime than incarceration (Reducing Recidivism by Expanding Funding for Alternatives to Incarceration, 2011).

We are always hearing about how veterans need mental and physical treatment when they come home from tours of duty. This is true. However, they are not the only ones. Prison inmates should also have those same privileges. Nothing in the world could justify some of the cries that inmates may or may not have committed, but in reality things like insanity and schizophrenia are true illness that can’t be controlled on their own. With the assistance of therapist and psychologists, these inmates can find value in their lives. If suicide is the largest cause of death within the prison systems, the finding meaning in their lives is all these inmates want. Not only are mental illnesses are within the minds of inmates but also addictions. If these inmates with drug or alcohol addictions can be cleansed of the addiction, then why should we stop them? Withdrawals from a substance can literally kill those who suffer from them.

Presenting one example of many, Washington reveals that there does exist treatment programs; however, it does not resolve the conflict that there is only a limited access to behavioral health services (Steadman). The Department of Corrections in Washington claims that the state of Washington requires Chemical Dependency Treatment Programs with licensed and/or certified staff members. With this program, convicts receive on site, essential health care services that include dental, medical and mental health care. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the jail provides essential medical, dental, mental health and psychiatric services care. But, further down the line in the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ article, it mentions that the essential health care only lies within lines of the community standards for a

My proposition to decrease some of the prevalence and our facility’s recidivism is to promote mental health and education on mental illness and continuity of care. I believe mental health promotion will increase our population’s awareness of signs and symptoms to reach out for help when needed and by receiving continuity of care, this population won’t suffer as much when released. Promoting wellness can reduce illness (Cloninger, Zohar, & Cloninger, 2010). Psychiatric care to promote well-being reduces the stigma and increases recovery of mental health. Therefore, mental health care appears to be more effective than mental illness care (Cloninger, Zohar, & Cloninger, 2010) Mental Health Promotion when patients arrive at the jail and

In a case study at a California Correction facility, a select group of young offenders that ranged from the ages of ten and eighteen, that were selected for a referral for mental health services that were incarcerated between a certain time were eligible for this study, the group was dwindled down from an alarming rate of 3200 that were detained annually down to a group of just 206. These offender had to agree to be part of this study as well as seek permission from their parents as well as the judges that had sentenced them. The fact that the referrals must come from either their parents request or the request of the court. This is just a crazy thing for me to wrap my head around.

With the termination of state psychiatric hospitals and the decline in funding for mental health benefits, many individuals with severe mental illnesses are entangled in the criminal justice system. Moreover, the country's jails and prisons have become hospitals for people with mental illnesses, many of whom also battle with substance abuse. There is a crucial need to repair a defective system. The criminal justice system must address the mass incarceration and impede public expenses that do not generate beneficial results in terms of providing valuable services and keeping extremely mentally ill persons out of the countries prisons and jails. Concentrating on this inadequacy will require the state and county policymakers to join forces; developing

While I was aware of the challenges facing the mentally ill prisoners, I was not aware of the true extent of these challenges prior to this course. First of all, I found the treatment of the mentally ill in prison challenging to accept; especially because this harsh treatment is indicative of the larger social stigma that surrounds this vulnerable population. Furthermore, I believe transinstitutionalism’s popularity and rise provides valuable insight into the criminalisation of mental illness and as a result, the exacerbation of the challenges that this vulnerable population faces.

The documentary “The released” shared a very important and serious social issue, which is mental illness of prisoners. The film described the inside of the Ohio prison system as it resisted to provide care for prisoners that have mental health problems. The system there allowed prisoners to leave the jail and either go to a shelter or a residential treatment center, to get the health care they need. After the release, prisoners need to take their medications and keep track with a psychiatrist or a mental health care center. However, most of the prisoners didn’t do what is required, most of them didn’t keep up with their medications and end up by going back to jail. The reason of the release was to give them chance to recover by taking medications