Mentally Ill In Jail Research Paper

A common misconception that many people have about the United States prison system is that it acts as a sanctuary for rehabilitation, and it is this misconception that allows people to believe that mentally ill prisoners who are sent to prison will receive the treatment that they need. Not only does life in prison provide added stress and anxiety to the already burdensome life of living with a mental illness, but with so many inmates in such close quarters, said mentally ill patients often get harassed and are unlikely to get the amount of attention from doctors and specialists that they truly need. With such stated lack of necessary attention and treatment, mentally ill prisoners often develop more severe symptoms than those that they entered with. Therefore, the time, energy, and resources that funnel into caring for the 1.3 million inmates with mental illness who are currently in the United States prison system should be shifted to focus on medication and or rehabilitation in an appropriate

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

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

Prisons are home to 33,000 mentally ill patients in California, alone. Filling 30 percent of California’s overall prison population, the prisons are becoming unconstitutionally crowded (Source C). In a Federal District Court ruling in Sacramento, “Judge Lawrence Karlton noted that the treatment of the seriously mentally ill continues to violate prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment” (Source C). Poor staffing is not fully to blame for inadequate care, insufficient treatment space, and suicide rates. When President Kennedy began the community mental health centers movement, he deprived the mentally ill of shelter which forced patients to live in the streets (Source A).

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 individuals that are thrown into prisons with unknown or undiagnosed mental illnesses are severely mistreated and abused on a daily basis. They are

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

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.

Because mentally ill inmates often can’t take care of themselves so they would need help from correctional officers and other staff members in the facility but how they are being treated is a different story. Prisons and jails around the world are not only suffering from mental disorders and illnesses but also the abuse of correctional officers. It is understandable knowing someone with mental illness isn’t capable of taking care of themselves and understand what is going on around their surrounds so not being able to listen to guards and other staff member isn’t a surprising news but because correctional officers would be frustrated with them they would often use chemical spray, shocked electronics, or even strap them in their beds or chairs for hours. By using these type of tactics and forces against mentally ill inmates it would often lead to death but because these are actions done by guards, it normally wouldn’t be reported (Timothy, Williams. 2015).

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.

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.

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.

Undiagnosed individuals with serious mental disorders like schizophrenia or bipolar disorders are often sent into prisons without proper diagnosis or any plan for treatment or medications (Ford, M. 2015, June 8). As a matter of fact, prisons are becoming heavily populated with people, who are in desperate need of professional psychiatric care. Regrettably, there is an overwhelming population of America’s jails mentally ill that are booked for minor offenses. When someone is diagnosed with acute mental illness do not receive the proper care he or she needs, his or her actions automatically become indicative. Symptomatic severely mentally ill individual’s behavior appears criminal (Ford, M. 2015, June 8).

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

But, why is it that these numbers are increasing in jails and prisons? According to the study “Mentally Ill Inmates: Financial Impacts and Opportunities for the Future” by Nancy A. DeFerrari, the number of beds for mentally ill individuals has decreased significantly in the last 30 or so years. She states that the number has decreased from close to 600,000 in the 1960s to about 40,000 or less presently. DeFerrari also makes the point that just because the beds for these people are decreasing, does not mean that the number of these individuals are too.