Mental Illness In Jail

While most people are concerned and want violent offenders punished and thrown in prison (which is a valid concern), it is rare that violent acts are committed by the mentally ill. For those crimes the mentally ill commits, prison may not always be the right answer; instead, proper treatment and rehabilitation would be much better. In general, the statement has always been made that the

Mental illness in America has become an increasingly popular topic of discussion. Rather than being placed in hospitals for treatment, mentally ill individuals are being placed into correctional facilities for their actions. Persons with serious mental illness (SMI) such as bi-polar disorder, severe depression, schizophrenia and etc. have trouble within society. Many lack income and stable living arrangements to be able to succeed in the community. Side effects of their illness can enable them to become a part of the criminal justice system.

Mental illnesses are extremely pricy and dangerous. The staff has to be extra cautions with mentally disabled prisoners because they are more dangerous. The prison system does not have enough money to be able to maintain high-risk prisoners. “The average cost of keeping an older inmate incarcerated is about $69,000 a year”(Regan) it’s an outrageous amount of money. A Tennessee State prison gave Dr. Regan, Alderson, and Dr. William Regan gave data on older inmates who had mental illnesses. The study focused on the population and their mental disorder and the crime committed. 671 prisoners where tested in the study and 109 people where diagnosed with a mental illness: Out of the 109 people with a mental disorder only 13% where women and 87% where men. The most common crime for both genders with a mental disorder was murder. Women who committed murder suffered from depression illness. Men who committed crime in their older age committed sex crimes and where diagnosed with dementia. Our prisons are not equipped to be able to handle mentally disable prisoners. Mentally disorder people need to be in a mental house that can help them. It is not right to incarcerate someone who is sick.

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.

The United States has the highest rate of adult incarceration among the developed countries, with 2.2 million currently in jails. In the last three decades those with mental disorders have been increasing more rapidly than the courts would like, which could be the result of the deinstitutionalization of the state mental health system.

A few solutions for the rising mentally ill inmates in prison is to : keep a working public mental health treatment system so that those that are mentally ill do not end up in prison or jail. Redo the mental illness treatment laws and practices in communities that will help eliminate obstacles to treatment for those people that are too ill to recognize they in face need help. This will help these individuals before they are so out of the normal that they commit acts that result in their arrest. Reform jail and prison treatment laws so inmates with mental illness can receive appropriate and necessary treatment just as inmates with medical conditions receive appropriate and necessary medical treatment. Implement and promote jail diversion programs

The United States does not have proper treatment facilities for persons with mental illness. With this unfortunate circumstance persons with mental illness are being sentenced to jail/prison instead of receiving help for their illness. Statistics also show that African Americans are more likely to be considered a “criminal” instead of being considered of having a mental illness. The United States should look into spending more money on mental health to prevent persons with mental health illnesses to be sentenced to jail. A person with mental illness who does not receive treatment will more than likely commit the same crime they have before and will be sentenced back to jail. A solution that may work would be to have a section of the jail specifically

There are nearly 500 thousand mentally ill individuals being held in jails and prisons across America, which is more than the 50 thousand that are still held in psychiatric hospitals.

More than 70% of today’s prison population is to believe to have some type of mental health issues (Together for mental well-being 2016). This is why mental health or crisis

A report written by several contributors from the Treatment of Advocacy center writes in detail the problems that are connected with imprisoning mentally ill persons. The problems include but are not limited to behavioral issues that are troubling to other inmates and correctional staff, jail/prison suicides in inconsistent numbers, augmented taxpayer costs, worsening condition of the inmates with mental illness as they go without treatment. The report states that prisons have become America’s new asylum because of the United States no longer have mental facilities available. Taking into consideration the number of

In recent years, there seems to be more people with mental illnesses being housed in jails rather than in a facility where they can get special treatment that they may need. “Jail has been a dumping ground for those that are mentally ill for some time” (Lacey, 2016). It seems that those with mental illness commit minor crimes will end up being put in jail to only be rereleased where they will end up back in jail. It would be a wise decision to give them treatment for their mental illness rather than locking them up in a jail cell and throwing away the key. The police department in in Richmond is trying to find alternative ways to deal with people whom have a mental illness by “offering crisis intervention team training to find alternative ways

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.

And 63% of offenders report using either alcohol or drugs on the day of their current offence (Sapers & Zinger, 2012). This statement exemplifies that numerous individuals with mental illness were under a type of substance while committing crimes, which clarifies the reason most do not recollect or administer their movements. Inmates with mental health issues should not be subject to correctional facilities seeing as their ability to express and connect themselves to others is frequently misconstrued. As a result, based on their illness, they are more susceptible of being victims of distress from correctional

Even though prisons or jails were not designed to house persons with mental health illnesses, they are the number one mental health institutions in the land (“Suicide in North Carolina Jails,” 2017, pg. 4) (Fellner, 2006, pg. 391). When these people with mental health issues do commit crimes, it is essential that they get the proper treatment needed while at the same time carrying out punishment for the criminal act that they committed. The statistics differ as to what source they derive from but the Bureau of Justice states that there are more than 2.3 million people that flow in and out of the jail and prison system each year (Wagner & Sawyer, 2018). When they think they have nowhere else to go, and they feel as if they have no hope, suicide

The U.S. criminal justice system was established to deter criminal activity and enforce penalties on violators of the laws of the land. Within this system various processes that include apprehension, prosecution, sentencing, and corrections enforce the goals of the justice system. The safety of the general public and those incarcerated are taken into consideration -  including those with mental illness. Quite often those who are distressed with mental illness and/or are displaying criminal behavior typically encounter the justice system through the police or law enforcement. Some of these individuals continue to engage with the justice system for a lifetime quite often through reoffends. Incarcerated individuals with mental illness is increasing. The statistics of incarcerated individuals with mental illness involve major social and economic implications. These implications range from the way these individuals are treated in the justice system to mental health care costs and policies associated with housing these inmates.