ipl-logo

Mental Health in Prisons

1803 Words8 Pages

Mental health is an important issue within the criminal justice and prison systems as it disproportionately affects those who are imprisoned. Stohr and Walsh (2012) suggest one factor that has contributed to the growing number of mental health issues within the prison population in America where government attempted to move towards half way houses and outpatient facilities instead of mental health hospitals. Yet failures to this deinstitutionalisation movement led to jails and prisons becoming the go to places for mental health patients.

The situation in UK prisons is similar as mental disorder was found in 37% of sentenced male prisoners, 63% of men on remand, 57% of sentenced women prisoners and 76% of women remand prisoners (Birmingham, …show more content…

This can have an impact on the victim's mental health due to the traumatic experience. It was found that 80% of inmates with serious phycological distress were sexually assaulted by another inmate more than once (Beck et al., 2013). One survivor of sexual abuse in prison is quoted in Just Detention International (2013) saying, 'There’s no therapy for rape victims in prison. The prison system is incompetent to handle the mentally ill, and in fact causes the mental illness that it should be treating.'

Another pain faced by prisoners is the loss of free will and autonomy. Sykes (1958) suggests that although some inmates may welcome the strict regime as a way of keeping themselves in check, many inmates express intense hostility towards the rules. Haney (2003) argues that the failure to terminate their isolation at will has negative psychological effects on prisoners. Crewe (2015) found that inmates felt the prison officers had all the …show more content…

Wright et al. (2016) argue that drugs are easy to come by in prisons, lack of structured activity means they are often used. They cite Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons UK (2014) who found that 13% of inmates tested for drugs had developed the drug problem in prison. This shows the harm prison can cause to people who have previous not been involved with drugs. Yet there is a big gap in dual diagnoses services in prison (Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health 2009), so those with mental health issues and new-found drug issues are not getting adequate care for problems the prison environment

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Solitary Confinement By Craig Hansey

    1290 Words  | 6 Pages

    Craig Haney’s article Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary and “Supermax” Confinement illustrates the complications faced in solitary confinement emphasizing the rise in mental health challenges imposed. Particular attention is paid to the escalation in the nature of mental health-related issues, including the negative psychological effects of imprisonment. Haney discusses these increasingly widespread and specialized units that bring forward the issues presented taking into account the notion of isolation and the association of the high percentage of prisoners suffering from mental illnesses. The article briefly assesses the recent case law concerning the difficulty of mentally ill prisoners, suggesting that the majority of broader psychological problems have been overlooked by the courts.

    Read More

  • The Significance Of The Prison Industrial Complex In Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow

    2497 Words  | 10 Pages

    In this sense, it is obvious that the PIC system falls short of prioritizing and appropriately addressing incarcerated individuals' mental health needs. This failure has serious consequences since it can worsen underlying mental health difficulties and contribute to a recurrence cycle, undermining rehabilitation and public safety efforts. This is a critical issue that must be addressed to ensure the well-being and rehabilitation of individuals incarcerated. However, it does not hide the fact that PIC does not prioritize the mental health of inmates and provides the necessary resources. The article "Analyzing the Relationship between Mental Health Courts and the Prison Industrial Complex” by Helen Zhou and Elizabeth B. Ford, investigated how mental health courts intersect with and possibly support the prison industrial complex.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography On Solitary Confinement

    1424 Words  | 6 Pages

    Annotated Bibliography on Solitary Confinement Cheril L. Hall American InterContinental University CRJS405 Research Methods for Criminal Justice Solitary Confinement and Mental Health An issue we have in the correctional system is solitary confinement & mental health. Solitary confinement is the practice of confining a person that is incarcerated to a small cell for around twenty-two to twenty-three hours of the day without any social contact. The problem with solitary confinement is that it is either being done to someone that is weak minded or to someone for an extended period of time.

    Read More

  • John Burke Case Study

    1567 Words  | 7 Pages

    More people get incarcerated for non-violent crimes and crimes caused by mental illnesses or drug abuse (Webb, 2009) and because these people get put in regular prisons, instead of in mental health facilities or facilities to help against drug addiction, where they could be treated to further prevent crimes driven by their illness (Webb, 2009), the prisons get overfilled and cannot hold the more ‘important’ prisoners that needed to be locked away from the public. A strong link of the criminal justice process is that the system tries to keep it fair for everyone. Every defendant has the right to an attorney so they can be defended properly and fairly and “Only judges who are adequately informed about a case can effectively control the proceedings and examine evidence” (Tochilovsky, 2002) It is also important for the criminal justice system that those involved show discretion and although this is not always the case, discretion by the judges, police, etc.

    Read More

  • Disorders In The US Criminal Justice System: Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson

    1426 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Prison Rates In Australia Essay

    512 Words  | 3 Pages

    Research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2001) found that there were 21,714 prisoners within Australian corrective facilities as of June 30, 2000. Where subsequently, the imprisonment rate was 148 prisoners per 100,000 population (ABS, 2001). Whereas statistics from the ABS taken in 2015, illustrate that the imprisonment rate had increased to 196 prisoners per 100,000 adult populations. Moreover, the overall recorded number of prisoners as of June 30, 2015, was 33,789 (ABS, 2015). From this it is apparent that in the period from 2000 to 2015, there was a significant increase of 12,075 individuals in the general prison population of

    Read More

  • Examples Of Injustice In The United States

    986 Words  | 4 Pages

    The effect of a failed justice system causes innocent people to feel “heartache of having missed so much of life” after serving time for a crime they did not commit (Baca 567). Often these innocent prisoners serve their time in solitary confinement. The isolation causes them to lose their sense of freedom, which can develop into a personality or mental disorder. They become

    Read More

  • Rehabilitation In Shawshank's Redemption

    766 Words  | 4 Pages

    Is prison effective as rehabilitation for wrong-doers in the US? Shawshank’s Redemption, an all-time best movie produced in 1994 starred and led by actors Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. A story about two imprisoned men’s experience with the corrupted prison institution through their way of self-redemption. There is a line, which was well read by Morgan Freeman, I am particularly fond of. Here I quote ‘These walls are funny.

    Read More

  • Untreated Mental Illness In Prisons

    525 Words  | 3 Pages

    Untreated mental illness is dangerous and over time we have learned that locking people with a mental illness is not the solution but makes it worse. People with untreated mental illness face many consequences. “People with untreated psychiatric illnesses comprise 250,000 people, of the total homeless population” (mentalillnesspolicy.org). The quality of life for these individuals is extremely heart breaking, and many are victimized regularly.

    Read More

  • Mentally Ill In Prisons

    984 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Gender Role Expectations In Prisons

    500 Words  | 2 Pages

    Inmates have already diverged themselves from the norms of society by showing and acting out. Prisoners who have: psychological illnesses, alcohol and drug addictions, and prior history pertaining to incarceration are associated to prisons and are connected to tendencies that are violent. Classification systems have been installed because of the prison systems recurrent violence. The role

    Read More

  • Mental Illness In Correctional Facilities

    475 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Essay On Mental Health In Prison

    813 Words  | 4 Pages

    What can be done The monitoring, prevention and treatment of mental disorders, as well as the promotion of good mental health, are part of the public health goals in prisons. According to World Health Organization (2017), even in resource-limited countries, measures can be taken to improve the mental health of prisoners and prison staffs, which can be adapted to the country’s cultural, social, political and economic environment (WHO, 2017). In the British prisons, some practices and policies have also been implemented, which reflect the positive impacts of prisoners’ mental health and wellbeing. Provide prisoners with appropriate mental health treatment and care.

    Read More

  • Community Mental Health Act Of 1963 Essay

    1349 Words  | 6 Pages

    Introduction Prior to the mid-1960 virtually all mental health treatment was provided on an inpatient basis in hospitals and institutions. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 was established with its primary focus on deinstitutionalizing mentally ill patients, and shutting down asylums in favor of community mental health centers. It was a major policy shift in mental health treatment that allowed patients to go home and live independently while receiving treatment, (Pollack & Feldman, 2003). As a result of the Act, there was a shift of mentally ill persons in custodial care in state institutions to an increase of the mentally ill receiving prosecutions in criminal courts.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On A Mental Health Issue

    947 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mental health issues are on the rise, especially among the youth, 6 out of 10 young people do not receive mental health treatment for major depression. Currently over 40 million Americans are currently dealing with a mental health issue and 56 percent are not receiving proper treatment. (Mental Health America). The health care reform has reduced insurance premiums for adults who have a mental health condition, however premiums and copayments are still not affordable for everyone. With the rise of mental health issues, the funding for mental illness should also increase to meet the need.

    Read More

More about Mental Health in Prisons

Open Document