Ohio Stepping Up Initiative Case Study

The podcast outlines the importance of good connections with the judicial system. When creating those relationships, it allows case workers to advocate for a client involved in minor cases by providing outside help. Providing those services of mental health rather than imprisoning them could help depopulated jails. These measures help save state and local governments thousands of dollars but also make their community safer.

The Frontline episode “The New Asylums”, dove into the crisis mentally ill inmates face in the psychiatric ward in Ohio state prisons. The episode shows us the conditions and every day lives of mentally ill patients in Ohio state prisons, and explains how these inmates got to this point. It appeared that most of these prisoners should have been patients in an institute of some sort, out in society, but unfortunately due to whatever circumstances they ended up in prison. According to the episode, most of the inmates end up in prison due to them not coping with the outside world on their own. Prior to becoming imprisoned, the inmates had difficulties dealing with the outside world. Mainly due to lack of necessary

As a whole, literature on the topic of mental illness in our country and specifically in our criminal justice system had a reoccurring theme. There are millions of individuals who suffer from mental illness but are improperly being handled through the criminal justice system. These individuals are deemed criminal just by their acts and their mental health state is not overly examine. Jails and prisons are being overcrowded. State prisons and jails are overpopulated anywhere from 15 to 32% (Spending Money in All the Wrong Places: Jails & Prisons).

The deinstitutionalization of state mental hospitals has left many individuals untreated and in the community where there come under police scrutiny due to their odd behavior, that is a manifestation of their illness. Majority of mentally ill offenders have not committed a serious crime and are subjected to inappropriate arrest and incarceration (Soderstrom, 2008). This new policy has become quite a concern to the fact that the correctional environment has proven to show no positive results in the mental health of the offender during their time of incarceration or upon their release date and thereafter (Soderstrom, 2008).

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,

Everyday correctional officials work to deal with mental health inmates. Often hotly debated, many search for ways to work with this growing population. Glaze and Bonczar (2009) estimate around 2.3 million people are incarcerated within the US and of those, 20 percent suffer from some form of mental disorder. Even with such a high number, the rate of mental illnesses within the prison system is on the climb. Many of these inmates will remain incarcerated and receive little to no treatment for their mental issues. This essay, will look at the practices associated when dealing with mental illness and discuss the strategies on dealing with this growing issue.

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.

In a government meeting about mentally ill in American, especially in prisons, the speaker describes how Ohio has become a leader in mental health care and that

Jail diversion is a mental health platform explicitly premeditated to isolate and divert individuals with mental health, substance abuse disorders or both from the criminal justice system into a need-specific treatment in the mental health system. Specifically, the program provides linkages to community-based treatment and support services to assist the individual in reducing deviant behavior. For this reason, the individuals avoid arrests and spend a lesser period in jail. The effectiveness of the diversion program relies on various activities that involve the identification of the target group and a proper integration of the victim into the program. While there are many different types of jail diversion programs the accessibility to jail diversion programs are limited, due to the strict qualification guidelines set. In addition, the availability of appropriate mental health professionals is paramount to the efficiency of the program. It is a common belief that linking mentally ill offenders to Community-Based Services decrease their chances of recidivism and contact with security officers (Sirotich, 2009).

According to a 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics report found that over half of the inmates in both prisons and in jails had a problem concerning their mental health (James & Glaze, 2006). The estimates in this report were separated by federal prisons, which contained 45 percent of inmates suffering from mental illness, 56 percent in state prisons, and

In 2009, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) gave the United States national mental health care system a ‘D.’ This grade is based on four sections: “health promotion and measurement; financing and core treatment/recovery service; consumer and family empowerment; [and] community integration and social inclusion.” While New Jersey received a grade of a ‘C’, which is better then the national average it is still a dismal grade that needs improvement.

Increasingly, more and more mentally ill persons are being held in prisons instead of receiving the treatment they need in a correctional facility or psychiatric hospital. Currently, 500,000 mentally ill patients are being held in jails and prisons across America, compared to the 55,000 mentally ill that are in facilities aimed to assist and treat them. This documentary follows the stories of several inmates in the Ohio prison system, all of whom have struggled with being in and out of jail and suffer from a mental illness of some kind. In Ohio, sixteen percent of the prison population is comprised of people who have a mental illness, a number representative of the nation. In Ohio, and likely other states, the mentally ill inmates are separated

One common element I have learned is that across the country, our jails and prison systems are grossly suffering from overcrowding. This places the staff and the inmates inside these facilities at considerable risk, especially when you factor in the amount of mentally ill folks that are mixed into these populations. It appears that your state is implementing a plan, which will save them a considerable amount of money. I hope this new accountability act is thoughtfully put in place and the inmates that will be released are intensely evaluated to determine suitability for reintegration to society.

In 1965, there was a histrionic change in the method that mental health care was delivered in the United States. The focus went from State Mental Hospitals to outpatient settings for the treatment of mental health issues. With the passing of Medicaid, States were encouraged to move patients out of the hospital setting (Pan, 2013). This process failed miserably due to under funding and understaffing for the amout of patients that were released from the State Mental Hospitals. This resulted in patients, as well as their families, who were in dire need of mental health services. This population turned to either incarceration (jails and/or prisons) or emergency departments as a primary source of care for their loved ones.

The documentary “The released” shared a very important and serious social issue, which is mental illness of prisoners. The film described the inside of the Ohio prison system as it resisted to provide care for prisoners that have mental health problems. The system there allowed prisoners to leave the jail and either go to a shelter or a residential treatment center, to get the health care they need. After the release, prisoners need to take their medications and keep track with a psychiatrist or a mental health care center. However, most of the prisoners didn’t do what is required, most of them didn’t keep up with their medications and end up by going back to jail. The reason of the release was to give them chance to recover by taking medications