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Mass Incarceration In Prison

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While at St. Gertrude, Rose would often wander away and have sexual encounters with men. Staff noticed her condition worsening during her time at the school. Dr Bertram S Brown, the former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, documented that “a neurological disturbance or disease of some sort seemingly had overtaken her and it was becoming The United States incarcerates more people than any other developed nation. While the U.S. population has doubled since the 1950s, the population in state and federal prisons has swollen by over eight hundred percent during that time period. Several policies have resulted in the today’s mass incarnation rates, causing absurd financial strains to state and national budgets that deflect taxpayer money from much needed services, in order to pay for the housing of incarcerated individuals. Conversations about criminal justice reform have to include the issue of incarcerating the mentally ill if the United States is serious about reducing mass incarceration and recidivism. …show more content…

Common mental health diagnoses that are commonly seen among American prison inmates are bipolar disorder(depression and mood disorders) and schizophrenia which is a group of disorders characterized by recurrent episodes of psychotic behaviors, which may include abnormalities of thought process, delusions, auditory hallucinations and judgement. With lifelong medication therapy, many mentally ill patients are able to function well in society and carry out Activities of Daily Living(ADLs), though a small number of these patients do not, especially during psychotic episodes, which typically occur during periods of noncompliance with medications(Mosby). Recently, advocates have also classified substance abuse as a mental illness. Six states have repealed public drunkenness from statue and now consider alcoholism a disease rather than a crime(Person, p

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Police are routinely cast into conditions in which they have to recognize and quickly adapt to situations involving mentally ill suspects. This may be the reason police officers are known as “streetcorner psychiatrists, de facto mental health service providers, or psychiatrist in blue.” Some studies report that ten percent of all police contacts are with people with a serious mental illness. Other studies report that people with a serious mental illness represent six to eight percent of all state prisoners, while other data claims that over half of state prisoners have a serious mental illness. Further, people with a serious mental illness will spend more time incarcerated than people who do not have a serious mental illness.

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The Stepping Up Initiative recognizes how mental illnesses are placing additional burdens on the jail, Commissioner Scott Wiggam said. In the 1980s, there was a concerted effort to move people from institutions into communities with the understanding money would flow to the communities to address the issue. “Communities have been trying to deal with this for the past 40 years,” Wiggam said. When people are dealing with mental illnesses and addictions, it creates further strains on the system, Obrecht indicated.

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Due to living in poverty, viable housing options are especially difficult to come by. Therefore, we see a vast quantity of mentally ill offenders living in disadvantaged neighborhoods or even homeless. Scott (2008) mentions that by living in these neighborhoods that are socially disadvantaged and inept, this does in fact increase the risk of violence, which can create a challenge in desisting from crime for mentally ill offenders. These offenders do not have a safe place to go home to, so having a mental illness, especially a severe disorder, can certainly place significant strain on the offender by not having adequate

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268 Words | 2 Pages

Through the years and through inmate experiences few things are changing for female and identified mentally ill offenders. From years past, Caucasian women offenders were seen as “pious and naïve of the evils” (Hanser, 2013), and African-American women offenders were more likely to face incarceration for wrongful actions. However, women, in general, did not hold the largest offender numbers like their male counter-offenders. From the RH REALITY CHECK Internet article, written by Sharona Coutts and Zoe Greenberg, in March of 2015, “In 2010, Black women were incarcerated at nearly three times the rate of white women . . .” While women incarceration rates increase, the conditions of the institutions still lack the necessities for women and

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1728 Words | 7 Pages

The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for several reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. This literature review will discuss the ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system and how mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism has become a problem.

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The key factor and points in this chapter began with the Penitentiary era. This was stated to emphasize the Quakers beliefs that prisoners could be reformed by reflection, penance, and good conduct.(Schmalleger & Gmykla, 2015). Followed by the Mass prison era. This used prison as a form of punishment and then the Reformative era where beliefs that science and education could be used to control crime. Fourth, is the Industrial Era.

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Mental illness is commonly used as a criminal defense in the court of law. The insanity defense is preferred for suspects who have mental disorders such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. These disorders impair a human being in emotional aspects like depression, paranoia, and other forms of emotional instability. We hear about the insanity defense on a regular basis in court cases and portrayed in the media and movies. What we don’t hear about as often, however, are people with cognitive impairments in the criminal justice system.

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Many prisoners adopt this survival mindset, in which there is no room to express pain or emotion that could in any way lessen their “masculinity”. This can become a major challenge in trying to incorporate treatment programs in prisons, especially if they are constantly being resisted. In a study by Lamb, Weinberger, Marsh, and Gross (2007), they noted that many problems arose when mentally disordered offenders became non-adherent to their psychiatric treatment, which led to even more issues when attempting long-term treatment. They concluded that those inmates with severe mental illnesses who fight their treatment, could present major challenges for any form of treatment while in

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Overall, approximately 5-10% of death row criminals have a severe mental illness, despite laws like GBMI meant to protect them (“Mentally Ill Offenders Should Not Be Executed”). In most cases, the verdicts are overlooked or ignored. However, the problem does not stop there; mentally ill rarely obtain

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When inmates with mental disorders are sent to solitary confinement, the results can include long term damage. When placed in solitary, many of the mentally ill deteriorate dramatically and engage

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In conclusion, the rationale for the deinstitutionalization movement was fueled by reasons that tie directly to, “cost.” Some of the worst decisions are made trying to save a penny (Pustilnik, A. C, 2005). Mental Illness in the Prison System has by default become one of the worst perpetuating webs of problems that have spawned out of a single decision in the history of the United States (Reports F. S., 2001). This problem of how to care for, house, treat, and prepare for release this nation mentally ill from the justice system has to be as important as immigration reform or healthcare (Perez A., Leifman S., & Estada A., 2003). Mentally ill inmates uncared for typically end up back in prison in less than six months of their release (Metraux

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1005 Words | 5 Pages

Changes need to be made to this system so the just and fair treatment of these people can be established. Closures of state funded psychiatric hospitals should be ceased. There is strong correlation between the closures of these hospitals to the intake rate of mentally disabled persons in prisons. The hospitals are established with one goal in mind: to rehabilitate and facilitate those in society who are mentally disabled. The criminal justice system was not established with this goal in mind.

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912 Words | 4 Pages

The mentally ill, if convicted for their crime(s) should also receive proper medical treatment for their particular condition until they are cleared by mental health professionals. The current use of the insanity plea will only pose future problems for the country and its citizens; by not allowing individuals to use the plea, unless in extreme circumstances, most

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752 Words | 4 Pages

Although a recent survey found more than half of all inmates had some form of mental illness (4), they had developed that mental illness before incarceration. On the other hand, I did find a bit of information regarding the effects of overcrowding on mentally ill inmates. Because many overcrowded prisons are understaffed in medical personal, inmates who are mentally ill often go untreated. Scholars and mental health practitioners have suggested that the combination of adverse prison conditions and the lack of adequate and effective treatment resources may result in some prisoners with preexisting mental health conditions suffering an exacerbation of symptoms (4). Nonetheless, overcrowding is a direct violation of inmates’ Eighth Amendment rights; prohibition of cruel and unusual

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805 Words | 4 Pages

Next, the legal system uses the “awareness test” to decide whether or not an inmate is mentally ill. It includes determining if the inmate understand why they are being persecuted, did the inmate have criminal intent, and if the inmate was able to control their behavior. Although many opponents believe the “awareness test” to be “subjected, biased, and even ludicrous.” Also, the severity of the mental illness, like schizophrenia, can alter the inmate’s brain and cause hallucinations that may lead them to commit the crime (Greenhouse). In summary, the legal system’s “awareness test” involves important questions to determine the presence of mental illness in the

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