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Summary Of PBS Frontline

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This episode of PBS Frontline focuses on the growing problem of the enormous mentally ill criminal population in prisons and jails. The viewer is also provided with insight on the challenges and difficulties many of the released mentally ill face that often lead them back into incarceration. As the numbers of mentally ill offenders increase, much is debated regarding terms of release and the deinstitutionalization of the 1970’s. One of the main focuses of this episode was how many mentally ill criminals often find themselves re-incarcerated. Those that make parole or temporary supervision are usually better off being that they have someone to make sure their lives are organized. Unfortunately, many under mandatory release or unsupervised …show more content…

Much adversity arose against institutionalization due to the fact that many patients with chronic mental illness were often institutionalized for life.The 1970’s started a trend of cutting funding to many of these institutions (while some still exist). This was the start of the mass influx of mentally ill criminals into jails and prisons. One example of the effects of deinstitutionalization PBS presents is Keith Williams. With no psychiatric institutions, Williams was forced to into imprisonment. Soon after his release, he was re-incarcerated for assaulting a police officer. Unfortunately many released mentally ill share similar stories. This cycle of re-incarceration among mentally ill criminals has led to their increasing prison and jail …show more content…

After his release, Stokes was placed into Bridge View Manor. Bridge View is a residential housing program specialized in guiding and supervising the mentally ill. Because of this supervision Stokes was able to stay out of jail for seven months. Offenders such as Jerry Tharp, Lynn Moore, Keith Williams and Bennie Anthony were not given similar opportunities. Without supervision Lynn Moore became unemployed and homeless. He ultimately fell into alcoholism and was cut from the services that aided him after failing a breathalyzer test. He was arrested shortly after. Bennie Antony, upon release, refused to take his medication and became homeless. This initiated a cycle of Bennie moving in and out of incarceration. Keith Williams was arrested for assaulting a police officer. Without supervision released offenders are at high risk of taking the same path that originally got them arrested

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A. O’Connor v. Donaldson 1975: In this precedent, the supreme court decided that the presence of mental illness alone is not enough to warrant involuntary confinement. If the patient is no longer found dangerous to him/herself or others, there is no justification to continue confinement. Commitment needs to be justified on the basis of mental disease and dangerousness. This precedent is applicable to the case of Mr. Y, because the statement above states dangerousness and mental illness as a basis for justifying continual commitment for Mr. Y. If the preponderance of evidence shows that Mr. Y is dangerous due to his mental disease, then deciding to civilly commit him would meet the requirement of this precedent case.

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This was after he spent months in a prison Psychiatric hospital in Missouri, which helped him restore his

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Similarly, Kalief Browder lost a portion of his life in jail due to wrongful conviction. As mentioned in “Before The Law” an article published in The New Yorker, Browder was a 16 year old boy walking down the streets of the Bronx with a friend when he was approached by police officers, “An officer said that a man had just reported that they had robbed him.” Both Browder and his friend were taken down to the precinct and then to booking where his friend was let go, but he wasn’t. Since Browder had been on probation at the time the judge held him with a bail set at three thousand dollars, being charged with robbery, grand larceny, and assault. Seeing that the bail was was too expensive for his family to pay, Browder was sent to Rikers Island where he would spend 3 years awaiting a trial for a crime he didn’t commit.

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Summary: The prison reform movement was a generally successful movement led by Dorothea Dix in the mid-1800’s. This movement sought to reform the poor conditions of prisons and establish separate hospitals for the mentally insane. In this article written by Dorothea Dix, directly addresses the general assembly of North Carolina, she explains the lack of care for the mentally insane and the necessary care for them. In the section regarding the jails, she talks about how the insane are locked up because they pose of a threat to the public’s safety not confined somewhere. Also, they are stationed in small cells chained up which is torturing them, and only the rich can afford to be sent to hospitals where they take much better care of.

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In “Just Mercy” Bryan Stevenson talks about the layers to each incarcerated individual. He talks about the repeated connections between issues such as mental illness and harsh home environments to juvenile offenders and mass incarceration. Stevenson goes into depth about the different internal and external issues that many incarcerated have. “In fact, there are more than three times the number of seriously mentally ill individuals in jail or prison than in hospitals; in some states that number is ten times. And prison is a terrible place for someone with mentally illness or a neurological disorder that prison guards are not trained to understand.

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Many psychiatric hospitals have closed down, which the only option left for the mentally ill was to be taken in jails and prisons. In the documentary we learn

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Lizbeth George English 8-2 The Wrongfully Imprisoned Holy Angels Middle School April 17, 2024 The Wrongfully Imprisoned A big issue I’m noticing in the novel Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson is that mass incarceration occurs not only due to misguided drug policy or excessive sentencing but also due to the number of people who are declared as poor or mentally ill and are just thrown into jail as their next resort instead of sending them to therapy to guide them. Furthermore, sometimes prisons are used as a substitute for therapy when someone has what is deemed as a mental illness. Consequently, prisoners often come out with their mental health worsened, creating more chances of that prisoner going back to jail again.

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Introduction Prior to the mid-1960 virtually all mental health treatment was provided on an inpatient basis in hospitals and institutions. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 was established with its primary focus on deinstitutionalizing mentally ill patients, and shutting down asylums in favor of community mental health centers. It was a major policy shift in mental health treatment that allowed patients to go home and live independently while receiving treatment, (Pollack & Feldman, 2003). As a result of the Act, there was a shift of mentally ill persons in custodial care in state institutions to an increase of the mentally ill receiving prosecutions in criminal courts.

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Also, the correctional facilities help inmates with mental illness

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The mass incarceration of the mentally ill can be reduced by reverting to institutionalization Researchers and activists alike are concerned about the rate at which individuals with mental illness are incarcerated in the United States. Many consider that the increase in incarceration is a direct result of deinstitutionalization. In this essay, I will discuss how the solutions to the prevention of the incarceration of the mentally ill but ultimately lead to the common goal of improving the care of the mentally ill. This will be done by comparing and contrasting the key points of Knoll, Etter et al and Kincaid.

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When they are released some of the cases in the film we saw they were sent to halfway houses, given 2 weeks’ worth of medication, and $75, how do they expect them do better under which the circumstance they release them into. These prisoners go from having their medications given to them to having to learn how to take the medications on their own and how to go obtain them on their own while no one is making sure or going to check up on them. Some of the mentally ill prisoners were released and put on parole which allows them to still be tracked while many maxed out they had nowhere to go where they could be watched, unless they were accepted or got into programs that could help them. The mentally ill in the documentary are released rearrested and put back in prisons this is the cycle we need to help stop because there is no growth for these people in need of help. This happens due to no support they have no supportive teams or family members while out on these

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More people get incarcerated for non-violent crimes and crimes caused by mental illnesses or drug abuse (Webb, 2009) and because these people get put in regular prisons, instead of in mental health facilities or facilities to help against drug addiction, where they could be treated to further prevent crimes driven by their illness (Webb, 2009), the prisons get overfilled and cannot hold the more ‘important’ prisoners that needed to be locked away from the public. A strong link of the criminal justice process is that the system tries to keep it fair for everyone. Every defendant has the right to an attorney so they can be defended properly and fairly and “Only judges who are adequately informed about a case can effectively control the proceedings and examine evidence” (Tochilovsky, 2002) It is also important for the criminal justice system that those involved show discretion and although this is not always the case, discretion by the judges, police, etc.

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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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Sarteschi of Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania reviewed the findings of recent research on the profile of mentally ill offenders. The 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, by Doris J. James and Lauren E. Glaze, classifies mentally ill prisoners as those experiencing symptoms or receiving treatment from a mental health professional. If we use this definition, the authors estimate that 1.26 million prisoners are mentally ill; representing 45% of federal offenders, 56% of state offenders and 64% of jail inmates (2006). A 1999 Bureau of Justice report, “Mental Health and Treatment of Inmates and Probationers,” describes the mentally ill as those who reported a mental health issue or an emotional condition. If we use this definition, “the report’s author, Paula M. Ditton, found that, at that time, there were a total of 283,600 mentally ill persons in prisons and 861,000 on probation” (Sarteschi, 2013).

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There are more people incarcerated who have a mental illness that there are in psychiatric hospitals. (Psychology Today). Mental Health America reports that “there are more than 1.2 million people currently residing in prisons and/or jails with a mental health condition and lack of access to mental health care”. (MHA). 40% of adults with a serious mental illness will be arrested at some point in their lifetime, usually for disturbing the peace or for a petty crime which are caused by their mental illness.

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