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Mental Illness In Prison Case Study

718 Words3 Pages

The United States houses the largest number of incarcerated adults in the world, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated that 705,600 mentally ill adults were incarcerated in state prisons, 78,800 in federal prisons and 479,900 in local jails (James & Glaze, 2006). For this statistical research, mental health problems were categorized by two measures, and the first measure included a recent history of mental illness, such as a clinical diagnosis or treatment by a mental health professional (James & Glaze, 2006). Subsequently, the second measure involved the inmate displaying symptoms of a mental health problem, then he or she was evaluated against specific criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to render a diagnosis (James & Glaze, 2006). Additionally, of the 7.3 billion people imprisoned in the United States, studies reveal that 14 percent of inmates suffer from a major mental illness (Skeem, Manchak, & Peterson, 2011). Since we are now aware of how prevalent mental illness is among prisoners, let us identify some trends involving the mentally ill incarcerated population. …show more content…

Although female inmates possess higher rates of mental illness throughout all prison systems, nearly half of all the male inmate populace in each prison jurisdiction is diagnosed with a mental health condition (Bohm & Haley, 2011). Additionally, in comparing race or ethnicity, white inmates had higher rates of mental illness than either blacks or Hispanics regardless of prison jurisdiction (Bohm & Haley, 2011). Now that understand some of the demographical trends between prisoners and mental health problems, let us discuss some of the issues with treatment during

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