Mentally Ill Prisoners In Prison

The treatment of mentally ill prisoners is not a new discussion. For over a century, people have been arguing whether it is ethical for prisoners with mental illnesses to be locked in prison rather than receive treatment. Dating back to the mid-1800s, Dorthea Dix worked for the rights of the mentally unstable and sparked the creation of state-run mental health institutions, which have since been defunded. Since the closure of state-run institutions, many people hindered with mental illnesses find themselves in prison. As a result, the criminal justice system has been referred to many times as a mental asylum. This is a problem because prisons were not created to rehabilitate the mentally ill, they were created as an institution for criminals to do time. The current prison system is unfair to prisoners with mental illnesses because it subjects them higher recidivism rates, abuse, and lack of treatment; therefor new methods of treatment should be explored.
When Dorthea Dix began teaching a class to women in a Boston prison in 1841, she realized how many of the women she was teaching were in prison for one reason- they were

Once a person enters into the prison system, it becomes increasingly difficult to get out. Often times, the recidivism cycle, or rate in which a person reenters prison, begins with a person from a lower class background, with an inadequate education, and a mental health disorder. The person will commit a crime that could be prompted by their mental illness. They get sent to jail, begin receiving minimum medication, and serve their sentence. While incarcerated, they may pick up additional charges that land them more jail time (Lithwick). Once their sentence is over, they are released back into the community, where they may be homeless and unable to find a job. Then, the cycle of recidivism