Why Do We Need Mental Health In Prison

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Not many people know that individuals with diagnosed mental illnesses who were found guilty for committing crimes are incarcerated rather than being placed in mental health facilities to get treated. In the prison system, they are not receiving the right treatment, as many of the prison guards are not properly trained to respond to the individuals who are mentally ill. Therefore, individuals with mental health disorders such as, schizophrenia and bipolar becomes worse. After these individuals serve their time, they are released with little to no information about their illnesses and medications. Some of them may return home with their families who may lack understanding of their diagnosis, a few ends up in homeless shelters or the streets, …show more content…

Two important factors that we must look at; first is our poorly funded mental health care system. In 1963 a Mental Health Act was established to support federal funding for public mental health centers in the United States. “At some point in the 1970s the decision was made to close state-run mental health institutions. Much of this was motivated by The Community Mental Health Act in 1963. Reports at the time indicated significant abuse of patients and a general lack of credible mental health care. The idea was that funds would be redirected from the states to local communities to manage and monitor the needs of individuals with mental health issues. Unfortunately, this transfer of funds never happened and local communities were simply overwhelmed”. (DeMoss, 2016). Up until now, there is an apparent lack of funding on mental health institutions. There are shortage of nurses and psychiatrists in mental health facilities, preventing patients to get the right treatment. Second factor we must look at is our poor criminal justice system. According to Dr. Richard

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