Rehabilitating the Criminally Insane In Daniel H. Birman’s heart-wrenching documentary Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story, viewers meet Cyntoia Brown a troubled young girl whose traumatic life leads to a murder charge. Delving further into the film, the audience learns of Brown’s diagnosis of Border Line Personality Disorder a chronic mental illness. After her fate is sealed with a life sentence viewers are left with a lingering question: how can the mentally ill be provided with adequate treatment in prison? Regrettably, studies are showing that mentally ill inmates are not being provided sufficient care to be properly rehabilitated. Understaffing of mental health professionals, ill-equipped facilities, and excessive use of solitary confinement are all contributing factors to the failing treatment of mentally ill inmates. Due to the inability to successfully treat mental illnesses behind bars these inmates are suffering. Numerous mentally ill inmates are victimized by other inmates, commit suicide, or find themselves in a cycle of facing reimprisonment upon release. Strategic and comprehensive treatment programs need to be implemented in prisons to combat these issues. Qualified mental health professionals, expunging the use of solitary confinement, and …show more content…
There is a broad spectrum of mental illnesses. Different illnesses correlate with different treatments. For example, Cyntoia Brown’s Borderline Personality Disorder is characterized by mood swings, impulsive behavior, and unstable relationships. While medication like antidepressants are often prescribed to treat symptoms associated with Borderline Personality Disorder, psychotherapy is the core treatment to manage it. Borderline Personality Disorder also resembles Bipolar Disorder and is often misdiagnosed in patients. Having credible health professionals will ensure inmates receive accurate treatment and be reevaluated if
Each time he hurt himself or acted out, his time in isolation was extended.” This story is important because it gives the readers a real-life example of the effects of long periods of confinement. Additionally, it shows us how inhumane the justice system is because they extended his time in solitary confinement due to the effects of his mental illness. Instead of adding to his time, they should have removed him from confinement and provided the necessary resources for mental recovery. To conclude, many sources and real-life examples show us how an inmate’s health can be
(Doc Zone, 2013, April 10) This treatment system, has been and continues to be effective. Studies demonstrate the consequences it would have if the system were to be abolished. "to choose prison over proper therapy in forensic psychiatric hospitals under NCR
Web. 15 Oct. 2015. Recently, the issue of treating mentally ill inmates while they serve time for the crimes they committed has become a very prevalent topic (Glazer n.pag.). Because budget cuts have caused many mental health institutions to shut down, court and law officials have been led to place these mentally ill offenders in jails that do not have the equipment and staff necessary to help treat them (Glazer n.pag.). Instead, the mentally ill offenders are simply placed in solitary confinement, causing their condition or illness to worsen over time (Glazer n.pag.).
Solitary confinement has been used in the United States prisons for more than one hundred years. Recently, the use of solitary confinement has become a large issue in whether it is constitutional. Many people believe that solitary confinement will cause mental illness in the inmates. This paper examines the research that have been conducted to see if solitary confinement will cause mental illness symptoms in the inmates. The studies include inmates throughout the United States, in jails and prisons with all different backgrounds, but mostly focuses on male inmates.
The mental health care system in Ohio is one of the most effective in the country. Ohio spent a lot of time and years making improvements in their systems. Separating the mentally ill and the prison general population by putting in mental health units to . Every morning the mental health staff get together to discuss inmates that are in danger to themselves, and talk about keeping a closer eye on them and come up with a solution to help them. They took action to their disciplinary process after seeing that many of them were going into maximum security prisons.
There are so many mentally ill people in correctional facilities because most families do not know how to help their loves ones who suffer from a mental illness, so the call the police for help. Majority of the police officers do not know what to do or how to handle people with a mental illness disease. Police officers who are not trained to deal with the mentally ill often do not recognize that person is ill. Some police officers do not recognize if the individual should or not go to jail or a treatment center or medical facility. The impact of law enforcement and the judicial system dealing with people with a mental illness is to assist the inmates with the help they need.
Prisons’ general health services should include regular assessment for prisoners,
While some prisons provide adequate living conditions and access to healthcare, education, and job training programs, others are overcrowded, understaffed, and lack basic necessities such as clean water, food, and medical care. In some cases, prisoners are subjected to physical and sexual abuse by staff or other inmates. Additionally, many prisoners suffer from mental health problems, substance abuse, and other health issues that are not adequately addressed in the prison system. These conditions can have a significant impact on the well-being of prisoners and their ability to successfully reenter society after
The shift is attributed to the unexpected clinical needs of this new outpatient population, the inability of community mental health centers to meet these needs, and the changes in mental health laws (Pollack & Feldman, 2003). Thousands of mentally ill people flowing in and out of the nation 's jails and prisons. In many cases, it has placed the mentally ill right back where they started locked up in facilities, but these jail and prison facilities are ill-equipped to properly treat and help them. In 2006 the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated that there were; 705,600 mentally ill inmates in state prisons, 78,000 in federal prisons, and
I believe it is pretty much safe to say if an inmate is sentenced to supermax housing, a no-frills prison or jail he or she will spend whatever is left of their natural lives within that correctional facility. And, the probability of parole or release is non-existent. In that event their best out is to conduct themselves according to the rules and regulations of the correctional facility that they are housed. Providing inmates with privileges and amenities is a means of controlling and motivating good behavior. Some would argue that providing privileges and amenities do not affect the behavior of an inmate at all.
No government system can fully be indiscriminate against two groups, and this is true in our legal system’s final destination: prison. In prison, the two binary genders face unique and distinct problems that the other gender may not face. While they both face different issues the biggest ones each faces leads to increased likelihood of recidivism, or going back to prison. The issues that the genders face in prison is noticeable, with considerable differences between men and women, yet there does not seem to be a consensus of whether or not these problems warrant change.
Over 80,000 inmates in the United States are in Solitary Confinement as said by the Bureua of Justice Statistics (“Solitary Confinement Facts”). Because the federal government doesn’t keep count of the number if inmates in Solitary Confinement, there is no more recent data. However, solitary confinement is a form of punishment used all over the country. Solitary confinement is used as a punishment for the most “dangerous” criminals, but is the right way to approach the problem? Sarah Jo Pender, a woman who experienced solitary confinement in the Indiana Women’s Prison writes, Women who enter sane will become so depressed that they shut down or hurt themselves.
Thesis Statement: Mental institutions had destructive impacts on humans in past encounters through the chosen methods of treatment for convalescents, the actions taken to obscure these individuals attributable to discrimination, and the detrimental effect it has portrayed on society today as well as historically. Introduction: “Some people still hold [the] view that restraints help psychiatric patients feel safe. I’ve never met a psychiatric patient who agreed,” (Saks). Guidance of our nation to people who pertain challenges of the mind have not been properly pursued over time.
Mental health is an important issue within the criminal justice and prison systems as it disproportionately affects those who are imprisoned. Stohr and Walsh (2012) suggest one factor that has contributed to the growing number of mental health issues within the prison population in America where government attempted to move towards half way houses and outpatient facilities instead of mental health hospitals. Yet failures to this deinstitutionalisation movement led to jails and prisons becoming the go to places for mental health patients. The situation in UK prisons is similar as mental disorder was found in 37% of sentenced male prisoners, 63% of men on remand, 57% of sentenced women prisoners and 76% of women remand prisoners (Birmingham,