Mental Illness in Correctional Facilities: In 2012, there were an estimate 356,268 inmates with severe mental illness in prisons and jails across the United States. There are 2.4 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 2,259 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails, and 79 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons in the U.S. territories. The mental health inmates take up a pretty big statistic out of the 2.4 million incarcerated prisoners. Researching this issue has led all the way back to colonial America and the history from then until present day, also has led to the legal background for treating mentally ill inmates, and
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.
Not only does overcrowding leave a lack of proper health care for all inmates, but also leaves unsanitary conditions in the prison. Richard Seiter states, “Inmates often complain about overcrowding and poor overall conditions of confinement (poor food, lack of satisfactory health care, unsanitary conditions) that can result from overcrowding or from simple neglect by prison officials” (p.463). Overcrowding leads to the sewers becoming overloaded. When the prison sewers and wastewater systems can result in the discharge of waste past the maximum capacity. This would result in sewage spills and environmental contamination.
Privacy for the individuals who are in these facilities has many concerns to keens that are searching in from the outside. Health problems and concerns for prisoners and disregard that happens in correctional facilities have been worries that press on to go unnoticed. The state appears to under staff in a few territories of administering prisoner's health issues. There are numerous who might go unattended of their health issues creating radical or even death in the process. A jail framework redesign yearly would serve to secure detainees and their health issues.
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.
Incarceration of the Mentally Ill and Mentally Retarded Offender is a Growing Problem for Prisons. The population of mentally ill and mentally retarded offenders is growing dramatically. Prisons are dealing with more mentally ill and retarded inmates because of deinstitutionalization of mental health facilities and increased incarceration at prison units. There are three options available for handling prison health services: (1) mental health agencies accepting responsibility for providing services; (2) correctional agencies accepting responsibility for providing treatment; or (3) contracting mental health services to independent providers. Federal funds are available to mentally ill offenders paroled to community residential facilities.
Also, incarcerated persons might not want treatment because they don’t recognize that they have an illness or they have lost touch with reality all together. When and if the offender experiences a psychotic break, they are taken to a facility so that a doctor can prescribe medication, they can also be forced to take the medication by court order. One expert contends that “we have created a revolving door in which mentally ill cycle from clinics, to homelessness, to jail”. The offenders in California, Texas, Arizona, Maryland, and Oregon, all go through a screening process. They do questionnaire, and or observation through an interview that is done by jail employees or a nurse.
Hepatitis in the Prison Systems The Silent Killer By Heather Davenport December 6, 2012 The most dangerous thing coming out of the prison these days may be something most convicts don’t even know they have Hepatitis. Adults in correctional facilities are at risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection through sex with HBV-infected persons, injection drug use, and sharing of close living quarters with other inmates infected with HBV. A high percentage of prison inmates have Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends Hepatitis B vaccinations for adults in the prison setting because of the increased risk for infection, both inside and outside of prison. The majority of HBV infections among
This problem exists because there are not enough programs to help inmates be reformed and the little programs that are available they are implemented only after the inmate is released and not in the prison itself. This problem has been around since prisons were created and is a growing problem today. This problem needs to be addressed before it gets way out of control. There was a study offered by the Pew
The results showed that there were higher rates of substance related disorders than those who had psychotic and mood disorders. Across the globe over 9 million individuals live in a prison system. Studies show that mental illness is 5-10 times more widespread among inmates than the general