In the early and mid 1900’s the U.S went through a period know as deinstitutionalization, where patients in mental facilities were reintroduced into society. This action was sparked by the introduction of antipsychotic drugs and the lack of funding to house and maintain mentally ill patients. This was to help not only the financial restraints of the government but to help each of the patients within the facilities by giving them the ability to live a fulfilling life without confinement. In the last few decades changes in the United States judicial system such as mandatory prison sen¬tences, longer prison terms, and more restrictive release policies have lead to an exponential increase in the number of inmates located within the jails and prisons. Currently, there are more than two million individuals incarcerated in the United States. Psychiatric illnesses within correctional populations are excessively higher compared with the general population. Currently more than half of all in¬mates have a diagnosis of a mental illness. Correctional facilities are legally obligated to diagnosis and treat the medical and mental health needs of the individuals committed to them. As a result, more psychologists and psychiatrists are practicing in jails and prisons. While the act of deinstitutionalization was to help people with mental illness live fulfilling lives it seems to have made a full circle back to institutionalization. This paper will discuss the view points of how the current system is inadequate in all areas and must have a complete overhaul so that mentally ill prisoners are not lost in the system, how the current U.S prison system adequately diagnosis and treats prisoners suffering from mental illness, and how the current system is...
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...on is underdeveloped, funding for correctional facilities to house, diagnose, and treat inmates with mental illness is lacking, and finally the ratio of psychologists to inmates is such that there is a definite need for incentives so that psychologists are willing to work in such facilities.
Works Cited
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The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and of that over sixty percent of jail inmates reported having a mental health issue and 316,000 of them are severely mentally ill (Raphael & Stoll, 2013). Correctional facilities in the United States have become the primary mental health institutions today (Adams & Ferrandino, 2008). This imprisonment of the mentally ill in the United States has increased the incarceration rate and has left those individuals medically untreated and emotionally unstable while in jail and after being released. Better housing facilities, medical treatment and psychiatric counseling can be helpful in alleviating their illness as well as upon their release. This paper will explore the increasing incarceration rate of the mentally ill in the jails and prisons of the United States, the lack of medical services available to the mentally ill, the roles of the police, the correctional officers and the community and the revolving door phenomenon (Soderstrom, 2007). It will also review some of the existing and present policies that have been ineffective and present new policies that can be effective with the proper resources and training. The main objective of this paper is to illustrate that the criminalization of the mentally ill has become a public health problem and that our policy should focus more on rehabilitation rather than punishment.
Today, prisons are the nation’s primary providers of mental health care, and some do a better job than others. Pete Earley focuses his research on the justice system in Miami, Florida. He documents how the city’s largest prison has only one goal for their mentally ill prisoners: that they do not kill themselves. The prison has no specialized
Jails as Mental Hospitals. A joint report of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and
Metzner, J. L., & Fellner, J. (2010). Solitary Confinement and Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons: A Challenge for Medical Ethics. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38(1), 104-108.
The overflowing prisons and the increase in diagnosis in mental illness, specifically personality disorders, relating to criminal activity suggests that our society and criminal justice system need to reanalyze and alter the psychological rehabilitation programs in order to effectively reduce and prevent crime. By analyzing specific aspects of prisons and personality disorders, we can objectively interpret the information for use in improving the criminal justice system. Concepts such as the prevalence of personality disorders in prison communities; the relationships between certain crimes and disorders, the idea of institutionalization, as well as possible treatments within the prisons will be examined. Additionally, by understanding the personality disorders that are associated with crime, installation of stronger intervention programs can occur.
According to Goomany & Dickinson (2015), there are many concerns that prison may not be an applicable setting for prisoners to be rehabilitated. Many prisoners have pre-existing mental health complications, and prison life can lead to deteriorating mental health issues, increased severity of the disease, and increased risk of prisoners harming themselves. In fact, mental health problems within the prison system are the leading cause of illness for prisoners. Scheyett, Parker, White, Davis, & Wohl (2010) states “A recent report by the United States Department of Health and Human Services indicates that an estimated fifty-six percent of state prison inmates had symptoms or recent history of a mental health problem; forty-seven percent of these reported three or more symptoms of major depression, compared with 7.9% of the general population of the United States” (p. 301). Research has shown that inmates that experience mental health issues are far higher than other prisoners in the general population to commit suicide during their first week of incarceration. Moschetti, Stadelmann, Wangmo, Holly, Bodenmann, Wasserfallen, & Gravier, (2015) comments that 35.1% of prisoners examined during a recent survey suffered from some form of mental disorder and among all inmates forty percent had at least one physical chronic health
Wouldn’t it be completely irrational to sentence every mentally ill individual to jail purely because they suffered from a mental illness? Often, mentally ill people behave in an eccentric manner and allure the attention of police officers who do not differentiate the mentally ill from mentally stable people and immediately charge them with misdemeanors. There are approximately 300,000 inmates, with the number increasing every year, which suffer from a mental illness and do not receive proper treatment. Jails are not adequately equipped to care for mentally ill inmates, which can lead to an escalation of an inmate’s illness. Society has failed to provide enough social resources for citizens suffering from psychiatric illnesses in its community, transferring mentally unstable individuals between mental institutions and jails, when in fact adequate aid such as providing proper medication, rehabilitation opportunities, and more psychiatric hospitals in communities is a necessity to reconstitute these individuals.
Thousands of people statewide are in prisons, all for different reasons. However, the amount of mental illness within prisons seems to go unaddressed and ignored throughout the country. This is a serious problem, and the therapy/rehabilitation that prison systems have do not always help those who are mentally ill. Prison involvement itself can contribute to increased suicide (Hills, Holly). One ‘therapy’ that has increased throughout the years has been the use of solitary confinement, which has many negative effects on the inmates. When an inmate has a current mental illness, prior to entering into the prison, and it goes undiagnosed and untreated, the illness can just be worsened and aggravated.
Horowitz, Alana. “Mental Illness Soars In Prisons, Jails While Inmates Suffer.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Feb. 2013. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.
Prior to taking this course, I generally believed that people were rightly in prison due to their actions. Now, I have become aware of the discrepancies and flaws within the Criminal Justice system. One of the biggest discrepancies aside from the imprisonment rate between black and white men, is mental illness. Something I wished we covered more in class. The conversation about mental illness is one that we are just recently beginning to have. For quite a while, mental illness was not something people talked about publicly. This conversation has a shorter history in American prisons. Throughout the semester I have read articles regarding the Criminal Justice system and mental illness in the United States. Below I will attempt to describe how the Criminal Justice system fails when they are encountered by people with mental illnesses.
Correctional psychologists are virtually clinical psychologists in a correctional setting. These professionals do their own, more intensive screening of an inmate’s mental health history and current mental health status. Based on their findings, they provide program recommendations, offer group and individual counseling, administer psychotropic medications, assess how each individual would be best managed. Additionally, correctional psychologists are on-call to handle emergency situations involving mentally ill inmates, such as hostage negotiations and crisis intervention. The treatment of mentally ill individuals in jails and prisons is a prominent concern that is becoming more so as more ill individuals are sentences to jail and prison stays. Currently, the United States correctional facilities are the largest provider of mental health services. (Reingle Gonzalez,et al
Living in a prison for a long time becomes difficult for all inmates especially those who are mentally ill face stress when their environment suddenly becomes bars, harsh lights, and super maximum strict schedules. The inmates are forced to face the strict policies and conditions of custody in order to survive in the prison. These prolonged adaptations to the hardship and frustrations of life inside prison lead to certain psychological changes. Most of this inmates find it difficult to adjust in accordance with the prison rules. They get in trouble for destroying state property
Saradjian, J., Murphy, N., & McVey, D. (2013). Delivering effective therapeutic interventions for men with severe personality disorder within a high secure prison. Psychology, Crime & Law, 19(5-6), 433-447. doi:10.1080/1068316X.2013.758972
Many people idealized the relevancy of living in a civilized world, where those who break the law are reprimanded in a less traditional sense of punishment in today’s standard. Instead of just doing hard time, programs and services could and should be provided to reform and rehabilitate prisoner. Despite standard beliefs, many individuals in prison are not harden criminals and violent offenders, many of these people suffer mental illness and substance abuse Hoke
("International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology", 2012) According to the International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology “…goal of improving the quality of mental health care for criminal offenders, the IACFP formulated standards for the delivery of mental health services in correctional agencies and facilities.” ("International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology", 2012) One ethical issue that psychologist who work in prison face is; offenders are not detained to receive further punishment once detained, therefore there it's the moral obligation of the psychologist to oppose the pressures of society, staff, and the lack of medical supplies. These pressures can influence the quantity of mental staff in an establishment, the measure of care that a detainee gets, inappropriate evaluations, documentation, medications, and harsh