4/1/2013 The New Asylums Prisons are now housing more than 500,000 mentally ill inmates across the nation. Many of these inmates are classified as severely mental ill and fit the psychiatric classification for major illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anti social personality disorder and many more. The question is why are so many clinically ill individuals who should be receiving medical care from medical facility being placed behind bars. Many believe that increase in mentally ill inmates is due to major policy shifts over the past few decades. one of these major shifts spurs from the decision made in 1950 to close many of the mental hospitals throughout the nation.
After the creation of these drugs and the closure of psychiatric wards, people stopped taking their drugs, and the effects of their illnesses, treatment was not received, and their behaviors deteriorated. Thus, crimes were committed, and inmate population increased. These inmates are more likely than any other type of inmate to have behavioral issues. As of 2005 there were 1,255,700 mentally ill inmates recorded within our state and federal prisons (Seiter, 2011). * According to Seiter (2011), in 2004 drug dependence or abuse criteria in the State prison was met by 40.3% of inmates and in Federal prison systems was met by 48.6%.
This program follows inmates inside Americas largest prison system and investigates the reality of locking thousands of the mentally ill behind bars. It shows that most Americans opinion is to lock these people away, and they are no longer a problem. But the reality is that prison is not the appropriate place to provide mental health care for these patients, and does not have the necessary resources needed. This program shows a Man being interviewed in the back of a ambulance. The police are questioning him, and he is obviously mentally ill and confused.
The Mentally ill in Prison Reports of large numbers of mentally ill people in American jails and prisons began appearing in the 1970’s. By midyear 1998 there were a quarter of a million mentally ill people incarcerated in prison or jail. I feel that putting mentally ill people in prison or jail is wrong. Why would you arrest someone who doesn’t know what they are doing is wrong? Instead of arresting them for months or years at a time I think we should just put them in a care home or put them on probation so that their officer can keep checking on them to make sure they take their medications.
The “Dark Figure of Crime” is the amount of underreported as well as unreported criminal crimes that society does not report to authority. In this case, unreported crimes do not make it to the statistics of official crime. One believes that some people in society are hesitant to report a crime to police for numerous reasons. These reasons can be because of the act of negative criminal behavior from one individual to another. A few common unreported crimes that deal with negative sexual related criminal behavior toward another individual are visible.
Ellen Ianesco was one of Dr. Freemans earlier cases and she seemed to benefit from this procedure. Lobotomies have been used to treat, obsessive-compulsive disorder, chronic anxiety, and paranoid schizophrenia to name a few. Lobotomies could have also been used out of desperation. At this particular time when Dr. Freeman was pioneering his procedure, most mental institutions and hospitals were filling up. Roughly 600,000 people were inpatients at mental asylums during this time.
It is generally assumed that substance abuse clients are products of a broken family structure and are prone to criminal behavior. Thus warranting the need for group facilitators to filter out most all and/or any negative energy and replace it with the positive. After-all the goal is to modify their behavior, what better way can one began to foster positive reinforcement then to provide the initial environment for such. However, there is always a chance that different claims and/or viewpoints can present challenges. For example, one might find that providing positive energy support for clients is not priority; thus, this can lead to more than just a difference of opinion.
The insanity defense in criminal trials are claims that the offender should not be held responsible for their actions due to a mental illness. Their argument is that they shouldn't be given the full criminal punishment for crimes committed, because the actions were committed during a time of a mental health episode. The defendant claiming insanity is required to undergo a mental evaluation, and if they are found not guilty by the reason of insanity, the defendant is usually committed to a psychiatric facility, instead of a prison. Which diagnosis the defendant has is not as important as to how it affected their capability to carry out the crime (Reid, 2000). The “insanity plea” raises several issues, and is one of the most misunderstood
Insanity Defense CJA / 354 May 31st, 2012 Insanity Defense According to Schmallegar, Dolatowski, and Hall (2010), insanity is more of a social and legal term than a medical one. Psychiatrists use the term mental disorders and not insanity. That makes it very difficult for expert psychiatric testimony to fit into legal categories. When using the insanity defense it recognizes that some people cannot morally and justly be held accountable for their actions by virtue of mental disease or mental defect. Insanity can affect criminal liability in two different ways.
On a yearly basis, 12 million black men and women cycle in and out of nearly 3500 jails and prison (McKinnon & Bennett, 2005). In 2008, 785,556 individuals were incarcerated at midyear, up from an average of daily population of 403,000 in 1990. Of the 2008 population, 42.5% were white men and 39% were black men, even though of the total U.S. population only about 6% were black men while 28% were white men (McKinnon & Bennett, 2005). Socio-economic status is a major factor in recidivism among the homeless mentally ill population (Solomon and Draine, 1995). Many mentally ill ex-offenders have limited resources prior to going to prison and upon release.