The Bio Psychosocial Allows The Person / Group / Community Seeking Assistance For Tell Their Own Story

Another major factor is the lack of medical services in the prisons and jails. Many of the mentally ill are retained in the criminal justice system without the appropriate treatment needed because of the lack of trained staff in the mental illness field (Markowitz, 2011). There is usually limited access to treatment programs while incarcerated and a high risk of decomposition and deterioration (Rock, 2001). In a Frontline documentary on mental illness researchers estimated that about two thirds of the inmates in state facilities who did receive counseling or psychotropic drugs did not necessarily specialize in providing mental health services; leaving us to believe when the adequate treatment is being distributed is it being properly

Overall, the United States prison system and society’s view of African Americans needs to change. People need to make sure that the mistakes society has made in the past do not repeat themselves. In order to fix many of the existing problems it is important to focus on reforming the prison system. Doing so would prevent many future cases of injustice and racial

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.

Currently there are over 2.3 million people in American prisons and jails at any given point, but 11 million people a year will cycle through the system (Wagner, 2016). In the case of Estelle v. Gamble dating back to 1976, it was established that under the eight and fourteenth amendments a prisoner had rights to medical care. (Oyez, 2016) The term health disparity describes the differences in treatment and services of illness, disability, injury or mortality by a certain population (Artiga, 2016). Mental health, addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, communicable diseases and chronic conditions are all significant disparities that affect the

Why is discrimination present in the United States criminal justice system? How is the system setup for people of color to fail? This social problem is interesting for many reasons. Many people believe that racism is still a key factor in today’s society. The justice system, which should stand for equality and peace, in reality does spread the public’s beliefs of racism and an unfair justice system. 74.0% of blacks do not agree that the justice system treats people fairly and equally(Hurwitz and Peffley,769) More than three quarters of a million Black men are now behind bars, and 2 million are under some form of correctional supervision(Brewer and Heitzeg,628). Many activists and civil leaders would find this problem very interesting.

African American men make up 1% of our nation’s population but half of our prison population. The bitter truth is that some of our youth is more likely to end up in jail than attend college. The poor do not have access to high-quality education and resources as those who are in the middle and upper class which limits their amount of opportunities and expectations. Many of these citizens may suffer from mental illness as well. According to research, the rate of mental illness is four to six times greater within a prison as compared to the outside world (Quigley). There is little to no treatment prevalent in jails for these people. The structure and aftermath of living in jail stains an individual’s reputation, future and mental state.

According to corrections.com many of minorities entering the facilities have mental health issues. Many have never had treatments and act out, it is why he or she continues to return for that treatment to help them. There has been concerns that can help the agency become better and achieve the agency as one with the issues arising more popular today 15% have mental illness.

The factors relating to the disparities among the African American population and the utilization of mental healthcare services is a concept that communities should become aware of and educated on. According to survey conducted from the San Diego County Adult and Older Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS) system and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, African Americans were more likely to be incarcerated Compared with Whites, whereas incarceration was less for Latinos, Asians, and other racial-ethnic minority groups, Patients who received an adaptive service after release were less likely to be re incarcerated than patients who did not (Hawthorne, William, Folsom, David; Sommerfeld, David H; Lanouette, Nicole, Lewis, Marshall; et al

As a caseworker at Community Legal Aid, I have first-hand knowledge about the services provided to individuals who need representation at times when they feel the system is working against them. Two of the four cases I have worked on this semester involves a landlord taking advantage of the tenants while the other two center clients with mental health issues. The fact that two out of my four clients have mental health issues, and are facing criminal charges, is no coincidence. Individuals with mental health issues, people of colour, groups with low socioeconomic status, and other minority groups, are clearly

As a significant increase in police contact with people with mental illness has a raised, proper training and inpatient services have decreased in the growing needs of individuals suffering mental health emergencies. Shown in the disproportionate arrest and incarceration of people with mental illness, which is a huge concern for policymakers, communities and law enforcement agencies. With police officers being among the first responders to these crises or often the only source of immediate service for urgent mental health activities.

Foremost, specialty court intervention provides a chance for social workers to promote a new type of social justice. Therapeutic justice principles not only focus on treatment services for criminal offenders, but it also includes promoting autonomy, emphasizing non-paternalism, a volitional choice to change unwanted behavior, and recognizing procedural and distributive justice (Redlich & Han, 2014). Promoting therapeutic justice will help fight against the social injustices embedded within the criminal justice system. However, some research has indicated that the specialty courts’ selection bias has racial, gender, and economic disparities (Sarteschi, Vaughn, & Kim, 2011). In other words, socioeconomic demographics still may negatively impact social justice.

Over the past fifty years, America has gone from regulating those with psychiatric ailments in callous environments to incarcerating them at alarming and unheard-of rates. This has put recovery off the table for millions of Americans. Those with psychiatric ailments and substance abuse need a productive arrangement to protect and preserve their human rights. Correctional facilities must have a close eye on every prisoner who has a mental illness because their power to contend these human rights may be debilitated. Overcrowding in prisons leads to a lack of mental health services and feeble designations and dissolutions of prisoner classes. Those who suffer from psychiatric ailments are still human beings, they should be treated with kindness

It is imperative that social workers on a macro level continue to implement policies and procedures that would better service the client population. According to the New York City Department of Corrections (2017) there were 54.4% African-Americans housed on Rikers Island. There were 33.1% Hispanics on Rikers, 7.3% whites, 1.8% Asian, and 3.4% were other (New York City Department of Corrections 2017). Since the population is predominately people of color, I feel that there should

Mental illness is another issue that is not adequately being addressed. Many kids that are being incarcerated are not getting the mental health treatment that they are needing. Countless families are postponed from services due to the absence of obtainable mental health services (Barksdale, Stephan, & Westin, 2014). Many times Juveniles come into group homes and have not been taking their medication because they have been on the run. Some families know that something is wrong but are at a loss of how to get help or where they should turn to get help.

Prison overcrowding has become a serious problem at all levels of the U.S. prison system. The size of the U.S. prison population is staggering. The U.S. has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, with one in 35 people in the correctional system. In 2013, it was estimated 6,937,600 adults were in some form of correctional control (Jackson 8). Ethnic minorities, especially African-American males, have higher incarceration rates than others, especially whites; although they are only about 37% of the U.S. population, they are about 65% of those in prison (Jackson 13). Federal inmate populations have increased over 50 percent since 2000, causing a 30% overcrowding rate overall and a 52% rate at high security prisons (United States, Government Accountability Office). Prisons also manage more prisoners with mental health issues, an older prisoner population and more female prisoners (Jackson 9).