Incarceration In Prisons

According to a recent U.S department of justice report, out of the 1,570,400 prisoners in the United States, 20 percent of that population is deemed mentally Ill (Carson& Golinelli). Prisons now hold higher populations of mentally ill patients than psychiatric hospitals and counseling centers. Now an epidemic, the incarceration of the mentally ill been a rising concern over the past 50 years in the U.S. Illnesses can range from mood disorders, to schizophrenia, to anxiety, and effects people all over the country. Suggested treatments consist of counseling, medications, and rehabilitation centers. However, more and more prisoners have been turned away from rehabilitation and proper treatment and towards incarceration. As of 2015, 90 percent

In 1955 there were a reported 558,239 patients in hospitals, by the 1990’s, 71,619 (Torrey). The widespread movement was meant to give patients a community based treatment, rather than institutional, but the outcome proved the opposite. Due to lack of federal funding much of the population did not receive the promised assistance, and around 40% of those kicked out of hospitals found themselves on the streets or in prison (Dumont, & Dumont). The effects of deinstitutionalization have remained in American society and persists today. Especially in how the mentally ill are treated in the criminal Justice system, and the reintroduction of the ill into the prison

The criminal justice system’s response to this group has been disheartening. An unfortunate truth is that police officers and the courts find it easier to make arrests than help find treatment in psychiatric facilities. In low socioeconomic community’s resources are scarce, especially for the sick and homeless. Officers find that those who are sick are more likely to receive some type of help in prisons than in institutions, which is already very minimal (Aufderheide & Brown). A growing number of the public believe the homeless would fare better in prisons than the street. Because the treatment given to prisoners is much less than an institution it is also cheaper. Today, it costs around $95,000 to treat patients in hospitals for psychiatric disorders, in prisons; $35,000 (Aufderheide &