Pros And Cons Of Prisons In Prison

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.

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

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

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

According to the American Psychological Association, a 2014 article states, “Mental illness among today's inmates is also pervasive, with 64 percent of jail inmates, 54 percent of state prisoners and 45 percent of federal prisoners reporting mental health concerns” (Incarnation Nation). This statistic is appalling and should not be considered an acceptable number. More than half of jailers and prisoners report mental health concerns; this is static that should not be taken lightly and needs to be addressed. Mentally incarnated people and prison cells do not go well together; it creates a recipe for disaster for the individual suffering behind bars. The purpose of prison is to “retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation”

Criminals with mental disorders should be held accountable for their actions and receive adequate punishment up to and including the death penalty. If they’re well enough to commit the crime that someone without a mental disorder can commit they should get the same punishment. Inmates with mental disorders are more likely to disrupt day to day prison activity, leading to needing more and more prison guards to keep the order. An estimated 283,000 prisoners are spared from death row because of a mental disorder. With that information it isn’t hard to believe that there is a big problem with overcrowding and over population. Not every single inmate is

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.

For starters, the only way were going to help these individuals is by giving them the proper help they need and putting them in prison or in jail is not it. Even though the facility has medication to support them, it is not enough to do any actual effect. (Anasseril E. Daniel, Care of the Mentally Ill in Prisons: Challenges and Solutions, December 07) It is good if they have medical area in the facility for them but it is pointless if it is no help. Let us say we put an offender in prison, he happens to have schizophrenia. We put him in the prison for a couple years; he gets treated like any other inmate. The time comes to release him so he is set free. How long until he commits another crime and ends up back in prison, or worse dead? I would say two weeks, maybe less. Things like this happen all time when it should not happen at all. The purpose of a prison is to make inmates learn from the mistakes they have made, but how can we expect a mentally ill inmate learn from anything if all they got was mistreatment and more reasons on why to go back the way they were. This is not something that should remain like this, it need to change now. It is not fair they suffer more than the rest simply because we see them all the same way.

What a fascinating article and it speaks volume on how recent history of our prisons have become ways in which we deal with mental health and that is to lock them up. According to Hoke (2015) the mental illness is disproportionately represented in the prison system, people get re-incarcerated because of social factors such as mental illness. In this article it seem that in prison they only send you to psychiatric ward to stabilize you almost like our ER or psychiatric inpatient beds are utilized. Therefore a strategic plan needs to be put in our prison system which is a complicated with complex issues, and deep seated problems which are often contained in large institutions (Stringer, 2014). If prisons created a comprehensive mental health

Prisons were created to keep those who aren’t able to function as law abiding citizens out of society. There are some people who should be put in jail for their crimes. They’re there because of a mistake they made, but they shouldn’t be defined by their past mistakes for their whole lives. But where is the line drawn on who is a danger to society and who has needs real medical help for their mental issues. The President of Stop the Crime, Charles J. Kehoe argues that, “the four main purposes of a prison are as follows; provide retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation”. Retribution is given because they won’t cause any more harm to this society. Their freedom is taken

The second journal was released on July 29, 2015. President Obama’s administration staff is working to end a policy that has prohibited inmates to receive federal grant funding been in force for over twenty years. Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Loretta Lynch work to restore a program for low income students. The aid will enable inmates to develop more knowledge and trades so they can get jobs to provide for their families. The purpose of the program is to rehabilitate inmates so they may have a greater chance to stay in the workforce and become contributing members of the society in fact, inmates who participated in the program were forty three percent less likely to return to prison in three years opposed to those who did not participate.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 7.3 billion dollars of a state prison’s expenditures are spent on inmate medical care, food service, utilities, and contract housing, which totals 26 percent of the prison’s entire operating budget (Stephan, 2004). Furthermore, since 1986 prisoner incarceration costs have doubled from 65 dollars per day to 134 dollars per day (Stephan, 2004). Since we are aware of the costs associated with the basic needs of prisoners, let us examine some possible alternatives to assist prison administrators with their limited budgets.