Mentally Ill Prison Summary

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.

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

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

When discussing the criminalization of mentally ill persons within the prison system, it is important to know the history of mental illness in the prison system. In1841, Dorothea Dix began her Asylum Movement. She saw how deplorable the conditions were for mentally ill inmates in the prison system and insisted on change. The mental ill inmates were treated very poorly, being beaten, starved, and sexually abused. Dix brought her findings to the legislature of Massachusetts and funds were then set aside to expand the mental hospital in Worcester. This was then duplicated across the country and many of the mentally ill were taken out of the prison setting and moved to get appropriate care (history.com staff, 2009). This was in the 1840’s. Dix’s efforts helped to decrease the amount of mentally ill in jails without appropriate care. Her efforts resulted in prisons containing only 0.7 per cent of mentally ill inmates (Chaimowitz, 2012, p 1).

Alvin Ford who seems completely embellished into his psychosis was not in such a severe state when he was first put in prison; despite initially being bi-polar and schizophrenic, he used to be able to converse and perceive the world as it was. The time he spent in prison and the conditions he endured within prison were the culprits that led to his complete mental decline. Sadly this is not an unusual occurrence; mentally ill people deal with what Ford dealt with and mentally recede very similarly to how Ford mentally receded. Unknowledgeable staff only adds to this demise. Mentally ill prisoners whom attempt suicide with pieces of torn bed sheets are seen as “destroying state property;” when kicking and screaming due to hallucinations they are seen as “creating a disturbance;” when self-mutilating they are seen as “destroying state property;” and lastly when they throw paper plates at guards due to delusions they

Within contemporary society, the legal process of placing an individual into a detention or psychatric treatment facility is called "civil commitment." Typically, this is reserved for the mentally ill, or those people who have satisfied the Court's rule that they are a danger to others, or to themselves. Society realizes that, at times, an individual may pose a danger to themselves or to society and be unable to make rational decisions. In fact, in most jurisdictions in the modern world, involuntary commitment procedures are specifically applied to individuals who have manifested some form of serious mental illness that acts to impair their reasoning to such extent that they are unable to make cogent and logical decisions. Therefore, at these times the state (the Court system) must intercede to find ways to make the appropriate decisions under a legal template. Involuntary commitment may have, in the past, been used in certain situations, inappropriately, but the statutory criteria that indicates one is a danger to self or others usually acts as a legal axiom (Korba, 2008).

This is unacceptable and a major issue in a broken criminal justice system. Diagnosed mentally ill patients should not be in prison, they need help that only a mental health facility can offer them. There is a difference between being mentally ill and being a criminal. It is no secret that the state has used the prison system as a dumping ground for the mentally ill. Common sense would lead an observer to conclude that a prison environment is not the best place for a person who is suffering from mental illness.

Throughout the years, the United States criminal justice system has been constantly incarcerating individuals who endure from a severe mental illness. People who suffer from serious mental illness are doubtlessly to be discovered in prison. There is a significant amount of mentally ill offenders that are placed in the state and federal institutions. The mentally ill are overpopulating the prisons. The criminal justice system is a deficiency for those who can profit more from the help of mental health treatment center or psychiatric hospital by sending individuals to correctional facilities or prisons. Today’s jails and prisons are being labeled as the new mental health hospitals for the mentally ill offenders. Commonly in today’s society, it generally takes other individuals who are willing to educate and support the mentally ill person into becoming successful in life.

The incarceration of those who are mentally ill is on the continual rise. Many states juggle with the decision of placing offenders in Mental Hospital or locating them in State Prisons. Latessa and Holsinger (2011) discuss two major reasons for the increase of those with mental illness within the prison system. First, many states have no longer allow for the insanity plea during criminal trials, thus those who suffer from mental illness are not required to receive mandatory mental treatment. This is due to the discomforting idea that criminal offenders should not be given the same living conditions as those whom are patients of mental wards. Secondly, longer sentences have created a surplus of mentally ill offenders needing treatment. Soderstrom (2007) added that the lack of mental health support systems in

Texas has approximately 24.3 million residents according to 2010 state statistics from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Close to 833,000 adults live with a serious mental illness. Within these 24.3 million residents of Texas in 2008, approximately 37,700 adults with a mental illness were incarcerated (NAMI.org). Additionally, there is an estimated 31% of female and 14% of male jail inmates nationally live with serious mental illness. We see this because there are inadequate public mental health services to meet the needs of those suffering. Texas public mental health

Mental illness is a very serious situation considering that many jails have more ill people that any hospital. Prisons are not set up for ill people. But they pick the mental ill people form the streets do to the fact they can not support them self. The main goal for this institution is to help out the mentally ill. Some inmate’s target the weak, and the inmates that need help would become easy prey. If an inmate even looks at an ill person it is a clear target that can easily be harmfully harassed. I am against mental ill inmates being in prison and jail considering that they can not defend them self.

The articles inform that more mentally ill people are in jail than in hospitals. According to statistics 159,000 of mentally ill are presently incarcerated in jails and prisons, mostly of crimes committed because they were not being treated. Some of them become violent and may terrorize their families and neighborhoods. Tragically, most of those instances of incarceration are unnecessary. We know what to do, but for economic, legal and ideological reasons, we fail to do it.

Multiple sources confirm that the population of female prisoners is rapidly increasing in the United States. The population now far exceeds one million prisoners (Bloom & Covington, 2008) (Lewis, 2000). It is pertinent to recognize the group of female offenders with mental illness; they are a group that is seldom considered when pondering societal groups relating to communication. Through substantial research, several issues that ail this community have been distinguished and can be connected to communication, as this work will reveal. Some of these issues include the reality of self-harm, histories of sexual and physical abuse, and aggressive behavior. Through the review of literature related to female prisoners with mental health

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

Healthcare is a big topic no matter how you view it, but when looking at it from the point of a person who is in prison, it takes on a whole new view. Those who are in prison have federal and state laws that say that the prisons must provide them with medical facilities for their healthcare needs. This paper will identify a governmental agency that regulates the healthcare that is provided to prisoners in an institution within the United States, along with the foundation of such an agency and who regulates the licenses, accreditation, certifications, and authorization for employment for those who work within one of these