Prisoners with Special Needs

Prisons today are pushed to their limits, both state, and federal prisons. Inmates are forced to live in unsanitary, unhealthy, unsafe, and poor conditions. Men and woman should not be made to sleep on floors, sleep in tents outside, or fight for a spot in a long line to shower. This issue needs to be addressed, and some states have proceeded to do so and have had great results.

Adult male prisoners are subjected to harsh conditions across the country. The physical conditions that you would see on the old prison movies like "Alcatraz" are not so prevalent any more. For the most part all of these old prisons have been replaced or modernized. There still remain some issues of decaying facilities but predominantly the harsh conditions suffered by inmates today largely come from their treatment. Treatment by their fellow inmates and guards is where the abuses occur. The underlying issue to some of these abuses is the overcrowding we are experiencing in prisons across the United States. These overcrowded prisons and the tight budgets of corrections agencies force more and more

Male prisoners also continue to make up the majority of the prison population. However, women prisoner rates have been on the rise and have exceeded that of male growth rates since 1995. In fact, due to the increase of the women prison population, various issues have arisen which require women to be treated differently from men. Such issues correctional facility’s face because of this increase include program delivery, housing conditions, medical care, staffing, and security (American Corrections, 2016). These problems are in part due to the different social and economic differences women are faced with in prison and while preparing for their release back to society.

Around the 1970’s and 1980’s around the United States many mental hospitals were shut down. There were many reasons why they closed these Asylums was because money, and knowing that there was only about twenty county asylums were built around the country. The asylums also known as the Looney bin was established in Britain after passing in 1808 county asylum act. There were so many patients in these asylums around the world in 1955 about 558,239 severely mentally ill people in the United States were accounted for. Now in these times any mentally ill people don’t get help they just go straight to jail without proper diagnosis or treatment. People need to know these people need extreme care and treatment. Even regular people or considered the norm in today’s society eventually go crazy when they’re in prison too long. We have as much people that are mentally ill as regularly incarcerated. There is one prison in Houston Texas that does take care there mentally ill. We have about 2.2 million

When individuals are sent to prison, many are forgotten, disregarded, and deemed worthy of being there. The high-stress environment is simply unlivable for many Americans and the exploitation of the prison system is used to steer many in the right direction. However, the mental health of these prisoners, especially female prisoners, is more ignored than ever. Research findings reveal the need for advocating and help to these women.

A major issue facing the prison system and society is the fact that prisons are not equipped to meet the needs of older prisoners and older prisoners are not adequately prepared to-renter society.

In order to address recidivism rates in this matter treatment needs to concentrate on the individuals criminogenic needs, and then be followed up by aftercare. The offender should complete all programs, like halfway houses/community residential treatment facilities. These facilities need to be empathetic, accepting, and genuine in nature for rehabilitation to occur. (Loftus, lecture)

With that in mind for a prison guard it makes the job a lot harder, the prison guard doesn’t trust in themselves any longer. Here is a perfect example of prison guards abuse female prisoners, in the state of Michigan in 1997 a prisoner named Tina Mc Graw told a prison Guard named Albert Moon. That she had been raped by another prison guard and furthermore she was thinking very serious about suicide. Instead of getting the help that Tina McGraw needed, and also tell his authorities of what had just happen. Albert Moon planned a second sexual assault on Tina McGraw, at that time Lower Huron Prison was housing Male and Female Prisoner’s! The Former Guard sentencing was just as laughable Albert Moon got two –years’ probation, and 139 days’ in county jail, as time.

Male and female prisons differ in some ways, but one thing that is the same is that the inmates suffer from depression, stress, and anxiety each day for the rest of their lives. It is hard to imagine what they face through everyday incarcerated or not. When prisoners are in jail, they have to deal with drama believe it or not. They might form groups determined by race and talk negative things about each other or think one race is better than another. Women prisons do this more often than men prisons. An example from the show Orange is the New Black of prison drama is when a prisoner stole a hand mirror from another prisoner. It is stupid things like that. They have to deal with the crappy food, crappy roommates if they can have one, and not being able to have the freedom. They have strict rules on when they can have visitors and when they can take a phone call. If you committed a crime that is super bad, then you do not get these privileges. When there time is up, they have to worry about where to go, finding a job, family, and more. Some of them come out of there and have no family to help them seek shelter and help them financially. Some just have to live on the streets for a bit until they have some money. It is very difficult to find a stable job with committing a crime on your record. They probably could get hired on at a fast food restaurant or at a factory, but they won’t make much to be

Can you imagine being disabled while incarcerated? I cannot imagine being behind bars, let alone being behind bars with a disability. Abled-bodied people do not think about the simple tasks they perform each day because it is normal for them to perform these tasks as naturally as breathing. Something as simple as showering, walking, or even talking could be an issue for women, especially those who are behind bars. Women are being taken advantage of behind bars and those who are disabled are not able to defend themselves. Disabled female prisoners are fighting mental illness, developmental disabilities, suicide, and sexual abuse. It is a lot to deal with when you are mentally or physically disabled. People do not know the true problems that disabled people go through on a regular basics, it sometimes can be disturbing knowing the circumstances these people face every day while being incarcerated. I think this is a serious matter about situations of this sort and that should be taken care of. They are usually taken advantaged of and being forced against their will, not able to do anything to stop it. According to Dick Sobsey (1996), women with developmental disabilities are likely to face sexual violence than a women without any disabilities. The sexual violence that was discovered through the studies were fondling, oral sex, and sexual intercourse. Also, according to the University of Alberta project it is said that most violence with these women are said to be done by their

With the increased numbers of those who are being successfully convicted of historical sex crimes, and this is set to rise further. The SPS said 12% of its prisoners in Scotland, are now over 50, with more than 100 older than 65. We might now ask that with the new increased numbers going through the Scottish prison system do they have a legal definition of exactly what an older prisoner is. This was originally thought to be a rather debatable topic, which it was. There is no legal definition as to what is an older prisoner is. The most common legislation that would be about age, is that of when does someone become criminally responsible for their actions.

I enjoyed reading your paper, it was interesting and informational. You also incorporated topics that provided clear details throughout the paper. Overall, I agree with your findings of probation officers and their time-frame to dedicate to the most vulnerable offenders that are likely to reoffend. Today, prisons have become overcrowded due to the ineffectiveness of approaches that are implemented on reducing recidivism with high risk offenders. Although probation officers are certified to handle a variety of scenarios, they should be mindful of the offenders that pose a risk of reoffending.

Prisons have evolved into an extended vacation without members of the opposite sex. But there have been cases of female guards having sex with inmates. There should not be flat screens TVS or video games. They should be given the basic tools of life and expected to produce their own living essentials. Prison is not supposed to be fun and relaxing, it is supposed to be miserable to reinforce the idea that it’s not a place you want to be. Protective custody should not be offered to sex offenders and other members of society who would become targeted in the general population. People argue that this violates their civil rights, but these people were aware that their behavior could violate rights when they partook in the illegal activities.

For centuries the general public have perceived that the deep horrors of the prison system only existed within the majority of incarcerated male inmates. However now due to recent investigations researchers are finding that this is not the case. For a lengthened period of time the female prison system have been given low attention in comparison to male inmates

Drug abuse is a major cause of the creation of offenders with special needs in society. Offenders with special needs require special attention during treatment and imprisonment. Make a proper assessment must be in the consumption of these criminals. State departments of corrections and various other agencies work closely in the process of treating the offender with special needs through programs such as community policing, corrections and community integration of community citizens.