ipl-logo

Mental Health In Corrections

639 Words3 Pages

Mental health in a correctional setting The numbers of people with mental illnesses are rising at a high rate within jails and prisons. The United States has the highest per capita rate of people incarcerated in the world. Statistically people who have some sort of mental illness have a greater risk of being incarcerated than those without. Why is this? Over the last ten to twelve years, a large amount of treatment facilities have shut down due to funding (What source?). By shutting these facilities down, it has forced those with mental illness on the streets of America, where law enforcement has had to learn to interact, and be able to deal with them. This puts a great strain on law enforcement manpower by having to get them evaluated, which could tie the officer up for many hours and keeping them from doing their duties; this is a huge strain on the smaller agencies who may only have two to three officers on duty. What is mental health, as defined by Oxford dictionary it is “a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and …show more content…

The Reagan administration repealed the act that President Jimmy Carter in-acted and the cuts have continued ever since. By shutting down mental health facilities around the country this has forced those individuals back into the mainstream population. There has been little to no treatment and most have turned to self-medication. Many of the crimes that are committed could be prevented with proper treatment in most cases. By those individuals not receiving the treatment that is needed, it has forced law enforcement and jails to be the answer for these people. The problem with this is that jails and prisons are not trained and equipped to handle them and there is very little training given to those law enforcement officers and/or corrections officers that now have to handle

Show More
Related

  • Confederate Memorial Day Essay

    828 Words  | 4 Pages

    Another issue that the American prison systems were facing was their constant practice of locking away mentally ill individuals to very long prison sentences that only seriously worsened their conditions, and even made their chances of overcoming mental illness, nearly impossible. Even medications that were prescribed to these individuals made them suffer serious and sometimes even worse, side effects. Although some states banned the high rates of mentally ill individuals to prisons, this only meant they were more targeted and thrown in jail for petty offenses by police. Many prisons do not have the resources, nor the skills needed to adequately and appropriately care for the mentally ill, therefore many of them suffer and even die from this

    Read More

  • Mental Health Court Research Paper

    459 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mental health courts handle people with mental illness who have been charged of a crime. Mental health court is defined as “a specialized court docket for certain defendants with mental illnesses” where the individual’s mental health is first evaluated (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2008, p.4). Then, judicial staff and mental health professionals decide a treatment plan for the person (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2008). Mental health court is an acceptable system because it allows people with mental illnesses to be treated differently than in a traditional court system.

    Read More

  • Mass Incarceration In Jails

    1120 Words  | 5 Pages

    This creates problems because it adds to the eminence amount of tax dollars spent every year. In the article “The high price of incarceration in America” by Aimee shows that the average American taxpayer spends about $260 a year that is almost 80 billion dollars a year for incarceration (1). There have been many voters who have been trying to reduce the amount of mass incarcerations that have been going on since the 1980’s. The majority of prisoners who were released between 2014-2015 returned to crime but the rate that they were committing the crime and returning was dropped at an astonishing degree. In the article “Prosecutors Fight to Plan to Lower Drug Sentencing “ by Sari, Horwitz (1) shows how government officials are trying to cut back on the amount of long term sentencing for first time offenders.

    Read More

  • Mental Health Court Case Analysis

    773 Words  | 4 Pages

    I. Problem Failure to provide successful treatment alternatives to the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and the unequal opportunity to receive proper mental health care treatment in the U.S has resulted in the overrepresentation of the mentally ill in U.S jails and prisons. Mental health courts have shown they reduce recidivism, long term treatment plans over incarceration, as sentenced by traditional criminal courts is a clear step in the right direction. (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2008)The expansion and creation of more mental health courts in necessary. However, there is need for improvements in the innovation to better serve their clients ethically and effectively. II.

    Read More

  • Mental Health Law Enforcement

    1509 Words  | 7 Pages

    Law Enforcement and Mental Health “One of my first calls on the MHU (Mental Health Unit) was of a gentleman having a psychotic episode. He had jumped out of my patrol car on the way to the hospital, took off running down the main street, screaming ‘Satan is chasing me God HELP me! Don’t let Satan catch me again!’ all the while he is stripping down to his birthday suit. I can tell you that the mentally ill can be fast and strong when they have these types of episodes.

    Read More

  • Reducing Recidivism In Prisons

    134 Words  | 1 Pages

    Being incarcerated is one of the worst things that anyone must go through, it can tear you down physically and mental. People who been incarcerated especially for a long period can come out mentally unable to function in outside life. However, what would happen if you have mental health or substance abuse issues and been in prison. The risk of going back into prison after being released have increase dramatically, and if this problem is left unsolved then it increases the risk of recidivism. This problem will continue to be a cycle if nothing is done.

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Documentary The New Asylums

    602 Words  | 3 Pages

    The major problem we have today is that prisons shouldn't deal with taking care of the mentally ill, that's the mental hospital facilities job. The people that work in this type of setting need to be patient with the mentally ill. Its not easy to deal with people that are mentally ill, they require so much attention. Putting mentally ill people in a prison is the worst thing to do, it makes their mental illness worse due to being in isolation.

    Read More

  • Mental Illness In Prison Essay

    503 Words  | 3 Pages

    If these people are charged with a crime, and are non-violent, they should be sent for mental health treatment to serve their sentence instead of a prison system. As mentioned before, the artificial lightning, sharpness of architecture and the general environment of the prison system can do a lot more harm towards a person’s mental health. It can be argued that, theoretically if the mentally ill were to be sent to the mental health system instead of the prison system again it would turn into another asylum type of situation. However, within the last few decades the understanding of mental health and treatment for it has come a long way and that should be taken into consideration, even if there is still a stigmatization of mental illness within society the prison system is obviously not working for those who are mentally

    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

  • Community Mental Health Act Of 1963 Essay

    1349 Words  | 6 Pages

    The front line of that process is the police, who frequently determine whether someone will enter the mental health system or the criminal justice system. Even police who are equipped and inclined to recognize mental illness and respond appropriately, however, find themselves constrained to redirect the mentally ill into the criminal justice system because of a lack of alternatives. The local law enforcement can redirect non-violent mentally ill in crisis to the clinic for assessment and assistance instead of

    Read More

  • Illness In Prisons

    352 Words  | 2 Pages

    Approximately half of the total prison population struggles with mental illness. Over the last few decades, mental health facilities have been shut down and more prisons have been built, nationwide. There are some interventions intended to improve the health of inmates, but there aren’t any nationwide programs. People with severe mental health problems have trouble with becoming productive members of society once they are released from prison, and they are more likely to be arrested again. People with mental illness can receive medication while in prison, if the prison they’re in has the resources to provide care.

    Read More

  • March Prison Case Study

    1415 Words  | 6 Pages

    Even though mental hospitals are overpopulated, prisons do not have the proper material needed to help the the disordered criminals. There are way more benefits of sending a criminal to a hospital rather than prison. It has been proven that many mentally ill criminals are negatively affected and have a higher chance of reoffending by being sent to prison. Our crime rates are increasing dramatically due to the amount of people who are committing crimes because they are mentally unstable. These rates will continue to increase if these people are not given the proper help needed.

    Read More

  • Me Facing Life: Cyntoia's Story By Daniel H. Birman

    742 Words  | 3 Pages

    Regrettably, studies are showing that mentally ill inmates are not being provided sufficient care to be properly rehabilitated. Understaffing of mental health professionals, ill-equipped facilities, and excessive use of solitary confinement are all contributing factors to the failing treatment of mentally ill inmates. Due to the inability to successfully treat mental illnesses behind bars these inmates are suffering. Numerous mentally ill inmates are victimized by other inmates, commit suicide, or find themselves in a cycle of facing reimprisonment upon release. Strategic and comprehensive treatment programs need to be implemented in prisons to combat these issues.

    Read More

  • Parole System Research Paper

    927 Words  | 4 Pages

    This is an important issue that should be dealt with because it is not fair to send potentially dangerous people into communities when the entire conflict can be avoided. Lastly, parole sets up parolees for failure because they have a strict amount of rules they need to follow but are not in the right circumstances to do so. Mark Kleiman, a professor who teaches

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech On Mental Illness

    577 Words  | 3 Pages

    Much of the criminal activity that takes place today is heavily related to the lack of treatment for mental illness. According to the US National Library of Medicine, approximately 60% of shooter in mass shootings that took place in the United States after 1970 displayed symptoms of acute paranoia, delusions, and depression before committing their inhumane acts. I am sure that most of you are aware of the Sandy Hook shooting that took place on December 12, 2012. The perpetrator, Adam Lanza took the innocent lives of 20 students as well as the lives of 6 staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Lanza had displayed key signs of mental illness as young as the age of three.

    Read More

More about Mental Health In Corrections

Open Document