Mental Illness Of Prison And Jail

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.

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

The video focused on one prison in particular. In this prison, there is proper medication, psychiatrists, and nurses. The main issue with this is that most of the mentally ill inmates have never had that level of proper care, so the prison system is hard to leave. However, the prison system is not designed to provide mental health treatment. It is supposed to provide community safety and security. As the video progressed, it stated the routines of the staff that is employed within the prison. When acute care is required, the inmates are put into the infirmary where they can be given the attention they need. However, providing effective care in a prison is described to be quite difficult. Many mentally ill individuals become extremely depressed, hopeless, and suicidal. They may also result in self-harm acts, delusions, and hallucinations. The video stated that obtaining parole is quite difficult for mentally ill inmates. If they are lucky enough to be released, they are sent out with two weeks of medication. On the down side, most do not receive the services they require and that usually results in them committing another crime and ending back in jail or

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

There are some differences between a normal criminal and a criminal that suffers from a mental illness in the criminal justice system. For example one of the many fundamentals to our criminal justice system is the principle that no one can be tried or adjudged to punishment while mentally incompetent. Trials for mentally unstable people have been modified and are run by different guidelines. Unlike a regular convict, most mentally unstable convicts are unable to comprehend or are unable to complete a trial. Once a convict with a mental illness is convicted or awaiting trail their every medical need must be accommodated within the faculty and it's staff. Without the proper medical care a person with mental illness can become

I believe so many are diagnosed with mental illness in the criminal justice system due to their repetitive actions of law breaking. In the beginning, these offenders are unaware a mental illness exists. So many offenders have pre-existing mental illnesses which are untreated; others may acquire a mental illness while incarcerated. This could be due to aging, or an occurrence which takes place in prison such as segregation. Separating humans from and isolating them from any population is

In this article, the incarceration of the mentally ill is encouraged because it is safer than keeping them in mental institutions. It claims that mental institutions are extremely dangerous by their very nature and the nurses there are trained to treat the mentally ill, not to keep them from hurting themselves or other people. In prisons however, the

About one in three state prisons 1 of 4 federal prisons and 1 of 6 jail inmates have a mental health problem and did not receive treatment since admission. I believe that we should bring or make a facility for those with mental disorders, not because they don’t know from right or wrong it is just that they need to be paid more attention too than a regular inmate, being mentally ill already is enough for that person imagine ill and caged patients not receiving correct treatment. The estimate of 56 percent of state prisoners, 45 percent federal prisoners, and 64 percent of jail inmates have a mental health problem; one of the most common health problems is autism and schizophrenia. It is horrible how in these times mentally ill people are turned into inmates. We also changed hospitals into jails and prisons. Now mostly ever homeless on the street has a mental

Prisoners are, by and large, people who have been failed. According to the Prison Reform Trust, 62% of male and 52% of female prisoners have at least one personality disorders. Many people incarcerated are people with mental health issues. According to the American Psychiatric Association, on any given day, between 2.3 and 3.9 percent of inmates in state prisons are estimated to have schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder; between 13.1 and 18.6 percent have major depression; and between 2.1 and 4.3 percent suffer from bipolar disorder (Holder). American jails have become mental health facilities. This is not what a prison should be used for.

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.

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.

Individuals with mental illness state that being in this type of environment causes them to feel alone. This type of feeling from being confined leads to depression and severe self-harm (such as the prisoners who had cuts all over his arms). In addition, many inmates become delusional and have hallucinations, which is another huge issue that causes many of the behavior issues. There is one positive effect of mentally ill being incarcerated (in some cases) because they are able to get medication that they were otherwise not able to get when on the streets.

The mentally ill are in harsh conditions in jail. Lots of mentally ill people are in jail. This is evident by this quote “360000 mentally ill people are in jail”-Montross. This is a monumental amount of people that are not in proper conditions. Another quote is “there are sometimes no beds for the inmates “-Montross. This quote truly shows what happens to the mentally ill inmates in prison. The mentally ill are truly put in bad

Americas correctional system has multiple issues. The system needs a complete reform from the ground up. One of the main issues that I will be focusing on is the mentally ill offenders that are incarcerated in our prison systems. There are the mentally ill who had a pre-existing condition before they were sent to prison as well as those who do enter the prison system with no mental illness, can develop some type of mental illness when they are released due to the harsh conditions that are present in today’s prison systems. The number of men and women who come to prison with some form of mental illness continues to grow by the