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Pros And Cons Of The Incarceration System

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An eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth: this is the basis on which our current incarceration system is founded, and this isn't even a relatively new idea. Mankind has been using this ideology since the Babylonian times. The question that we must ask now is why has this system continued for as long as it has? Is it because it is the best system? I believe that the reason why we haven't scrapped this dated system is due to an appeal to tradition: removing those who have done wrong in society has been working for centuries and nothing bad has come from it. This logic is very unsound considering the numerous problems that are constantly arising and are heard about in the media, especially in cases where the mental health of criminals are concerned. …show more content…

The number of mentally ill prisoners is consistently on the rise. In fact, a 1995 study found that there is a higher percentage of people with mental illnesses in prison than outside of prison (statcan.gc.ca). It's argued that the reason for there being so many mentally ill people in prison is that those who "cannot get mental health treatment in the community are swept into the criminal justice system after they commit a crime" (Abramsky and Fellner 1) and get caught up within a cycle of criminalization.

It's obvious that the incarceration system doesn't do much to help criminals with mental illnesses. At most, they are detained in special prisons with mental health facilities, yet even these programs have been proven to be insufficient, unethical, and very corrupted; it isn't uncommon to hear of stories where patients are being mistreated, secluded for extended periods of time without proper care, and removed of their basic human rights. Therefore it is fair to say that the way the current system is set up isn't to help those with mental health issues, but to imprison them despite the knowledge that their judgement is

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