Mentally Ill Inmates What percentage of the US jails contain inmates suffering from mental problems?The answer is fifty six percent of inmates in jail have some sort of mental problem or disability. Which is more than half of the population of inmates in prison. The mentally ill have been an important part in the us jails system since way back when the jail systems was founded.. The mentally ill have been an important issue since the beginning of the prison systems and with them there were always problems trying to house them in normal prison. History The Treatment advocacy center studied reports that confirmed the mentally ill to be confined in prisons and jails in 1770 and 1820 which was found to be inhumane.Then they tried to house them in mental hospitals in the 70s but it didn 't work so them just …show more content…
The prison were having trouble dealing with the mentally ill because they lack both the knowledge and training.They also had to provide some sort of medication or mental treatment which was also challenging given that prison were always short on supplies. In all the treatment advocacy center still didn 't give up they introduced a list of recommendations that would help the mentally ill in the prison system. Reformed prison laws for treatment of mentally ill (2) implemented and encourage new programs such as the mental health courts (3) The courts also afford medical treatment to the mentally ill just as the same as a person in need like any other person who is in need of medical treatment. For instance all the reforms were to help better the mentally ill in jails or prisons.there is a lot of opinion that a mentally ill person should be sent to a mental hospital instead of a prison. ,but all these reforms are a first step to beginning a long procise to help stabilize a mental person mind and put them and the people around them in a safe environment.That 's why there are alway experts arguing about what should be best for a person with a
Institutionalization in the 1800’s was Dorothea Dix was a mover and shaker, who together with a few others in her era was responsible for alleviating the plight of the mentally ill. In the 1800's she found them in jails, almshouses and underneath bridges. She then began her major lobby with legislators and authority figures across the land, to get hospitals built in what was then known as the "Moral Treatment Era. " Things did get better, with ups and downs, of course. She visited widely, in the Midwest state hospitals in Independence and Mt. Pleasant, Iowa and Winnebago in Wisconsin ca.
Cognitive and coherent abilities is a factor however, treatment is often best received when one is willing. Tying in the Front-Line documentary, some the mentally inmates thrived when willing to receive and/or adapt to treatment. Those who refused to take their medications were more hostile and declined. Reformers like Dix did not seek community based health care due to societal views about the mentally ill. Community based services, would require that the community be accepting and willing to assist their mentally ill otherwise, the system would fail.
During the nineteen seventies and into the eighties, mental institutions were starting to close part of this reason was that slowly society became horrified to house people in state hospitals, who were more often than not large warehouse looking facilities of dehumanizing abuse. Furthermore because of a new thinking trend in the medial world and because of advancement in medication it
In the 1800s, the mentally ill and prisoners were forced to live in wretched conditions and often were not even treated as regular citizens. Patients of mental institutions were operated on so they were more controllable. The mentally insane that did not live at home were kept in prisons, few were in faulty poorhouses, and even fewer were in hospitals. Many hospitals had mental wards, but they were inadequate for patients. In the 1840s, Dorothea Dix visited many prisons where the deranged were kept and found that these conditions were unsuitable for living quarters (“Dorothea Dix Biography”).
Although mental illness has not always been a subject of social importance, it has always been an issue in America. In the early years of this country, mentally disabled people were considered morally unclean and were social outcasts. At this time in history there were not places for these people to go to any sort of treatment so they were cared for by their families. Since it was socially unacceptable to have a mental illness at the time, there were some cases where people lived in poorhouses or were sent to jail (Ozarin). The necessity to treat the mentally ill increased as America continued to grow and advance.
Also receiving the treatment within the jail will allow them to continue to practice safe habits when released rather than behaving criminally and impulsively bringing them back to prison. The National Alliance on Mental Illness believes that prisoners with mental health deserve access to quality mental health treatment. They give statistics to prove that mental illnesses within jails are a big problem and later provide links to what they have already done to help mentally ill prisoners in jails not receiving the treatment they need. The author believes, “People with mental illness who are incarcerated deserve access to appropriate mental health treatment, including screening, regular and timely access to mental health providers, and access to medications and programs that support recovery”(“Treatment While Incarcerated”). To be able to involve all of these different types of treatments, prisons first need to be able to include educated staff.
The study also says that among female inmates one third of them have some type of mental disorder. In prisons and jails, prisoners sit in their cells majority
Their are around 500,000 mentally ill people that are put away in prisons and jails. In the documentary “The New Asylums”,Ohio's state prison system reveals the issues that are ongoing with mentally ill inmates. The major problem we have today is that no one is taking care of the people of these people. Most mentally ill people live by themselves with no family or friends to take care of them and they are off their medications. The mentally ill come in to prison on non violent offenses such as disturbing the peace, trespassing, etc. After leaving mental hospitals they usually end up on the streets and become homeless.
There are so many mentally ill people in correctional facilities because most families do not know how to help their loves ones who suffer from a mental illness, so the call the police for help. Majority of the police officers do not know what to do or how to handle people with a mental illness disease. Police officers who are not trained to deal with the mentally ill often do not recognize that person is ill. Some police officers do not recognize if the individual should or not go to jail or a treatment center or medical facility. The impact of law enforcement and the judicial system dealing with people with a mental illness is to assist the inmates with the help they need.
A major issue is with our justice system is either ignoring or don’t recognize convicts with mental health issues, which leads to lengthier convictions and higher rates of recidivism. Ignoring or not recognizing the convict’s mental health issues just gets them incarcerated for a longer time and they never receive the right treatment to get better. Due to our country’s prison not having the right or proper treatment for the mentally ill will make it harder for them to adjust when the release back into society. One of the main reasons why our prisons don’t have the correct treatment centers for the mentally ill is because it just not affordable to have non-prison facilities on the prison campus. One solution that has been tried is to create a “supermax” prison, which is facility that known for segregation, lockdown, or solitary confinement.
In today’s society, when someone mentions a mental institution most people picture a dark, dirty, and horrendous hospital like structure. While this image may at times be accurate, this was not always the case. Mental institutions, otherwise known as asylums, have a past full of ups and downs. During different time periods standards for care in these facilities fluctuated from proper care to improper care. With more of an understanding of these mental abnormalities we have a better chance of finding solutions and resolving them.
Nearly one in five Americans can suffer from any type of mental illnesses.
The shift is attributed to the unexpected clinical needs of this new outpatient population, the inability of community mental health centers to meet these needs, and the changes in mental health laws (Pollack & Feldman, 2003). Thousands of mentally ill people flowing in and out of the nation 's jails and prisons. In many cases, it has placed the mentally ill right back where they started locked up in facilities, but these jail and prison facilities are ill-equipped to properly treat and help them. In 2006 the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated that there were; 705,600 mentally ill inmates in state prisons, 78,000 in federal prisons, and
The goal for all prisoners is punishment and release. However, this punishment should never be cruel. The current lack of mental health care for the increasing number of mentally ill patients is cruel. Even worse, these problems could be fixed. If there was an increase in funding for trained correctional officers and proper mental health care givers, there would be a great increase in quality of life for the mentally ill in prisons.
People with mental illnesses can be especially hard for corrections agencies to deal with due to their proclivity for unpredictability by the less educated members of society along with the less educated correctional officers. What Mental Illnesses may Offenders Suffer