Mental Illness In Prison

Mental Illness has been prevalent all throughout our history from Isaac Newton to Abraham Lincoln to Sylvia Plath and so on. These illnesses can be as minor as a slight bipolar disorder or as severe as schizophrenia. In recent years, mental illnesses are becoming more prevalent in our criminal justice systems than anywhere else. Mental illness is becoming an association with crime and based on the information that has been found, this paper will attempt to further define the problem of mental illness within our criminal justice system and offer alternatives or insights as to how to possibly help with this problem.

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.

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

Jails and prisons are not set up to meet the treatment and accountability needs of the mentally ill (“Mental Health Court”, n.d.). “Inmates with mental illnesses are more likely than other to be held in solitary confinement, and many are raped, commit suicide, or hurt themselves” (Swanson, 2014). Making mental health courts mandatory would better address these needs by offering treatment,

Individuals suffering from mental illnesses tend to fall victim to the criminal justice system due to their uncontrollable actions that result from their mental illness symptoms. Within the United States two to three hundred thousand people in prison suffer from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, severe depression, and bipolar disorder. Sadly, the majority of prisons are deficient in providing the appropriate resources to treat these individuals; people with mental illnesses are too frequently socially mistreated, neglected, and misunderstood within the confines of a prison. Prisons are deficient in correctional staff trained to suit mentally ill inmates, 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.

Over the years, as the population continued to grow, so did crime, drug use, and violence. Research indicates that 72% of both male and female jail detainees with severe mental disorders also meet criteria for substance use disorders of

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.

Mental illness affects roughly 56 percent of state prison inmates and 64 percent of jail inmates. It is a disorder that interferes with mental cognition involving changed thinking, emotion, behavior, or a combination of both. Several things are thought to be correlated with mental illness among the incarcerated. Some examples include prior life stressors, gender differences, prison life environment, etc (Drapalski et al., 2009; Gosein, Stiffler, Frascoia, & Ford, 2015). In the present paper, the role mental illness plays in the life of incarcerated inmates is investigated. It is hypothesized that individuals diagnosed with a mental illness are more likely to be incarcerated than inmates without a mental

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.

The growing rate of inmates with mental health disorders in correctional facilities is alarming. 54% state jail. 45% federal

Schizophrenia has been the most prevalent. It is one of the biggest illnesses affecting the prison system today. About 3.9 percent of inmates are estimated to have this disorder (Aufderheide1). The number of inmates and crimes will only increase,if people are not receiving the appropriate treatment needed. The mental state of offenders have been ignored for too long now is the now to take charge and make sure every citizen is being given the necessary treatment for a speedy recovery. The rates of mental health is going up, 73 percent of women and 55 percent of men have at least on mental health problem (James1). This percentage is a huge issue that needs to be reduced. The lack of motivation to reform prison systems are not only a disservice to offenders and their families; it is a threat to public safety. With wrongly sending individuals who are ill to prisons their would be a need for more staff and the cost for equipment and medicine will grow quickly. Mental health care should always be the first thing considered in the courtroom in order to determine the individual sentence,but for years it has been overlooked and ignored.With ignoring this issue for so long it has been hard to control the situation,everyone who has some type of mental disorder should be placed in a rehabilitation center where they will receive the best treatment and nourishment

A significant issue facing corrections today are mentally ill prisoners (Dugger, 2016). Conditions may vary, but common mental illnesses include disorders that affect mood, thinking or behavior, as well as, depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. According to the article, more than half of all inmates have some type of mental illness and since 1998 mental illness cases in prisons has increased over four times. In the past thirty years, those with a mental illness have been incarcerated more than ever (Daniel, 2007). A systematic review of 62 surveys of incarcerated people was conducted. The men that were in that group 3.7 percent had psychotic illness, 10 percent had major depression, 47 percent had an antisocial

To begin with, untreated mental illness may lead to acts of criminalism. Forty-five percent of inmates in federal prison reported to have some kind of mental illness (James and Glaze, 1). The most common crimes committed included violent offenses, specifically robbery, and possession of drugs (James and Glaze, 7). These criminal offenses could be easily avoided through treatment of one’s mental illness. Disregarded mental illness creates a dilemma that does not to be created; it not only costs inmates their reputation, but it also costs taxpayers their money. Offenses that mentally ill criminals commonly commit are avoidable through mental liability.