Mental Illness Among Criminals
The prison systems have been over populated by many criminals in our country. The increasing rate of prisoners who have been diagnosed with mental illness is increasing. Many criminals have either been diagnosed with mental illness before being arrested and put into prison or they were diagnosed with mental issues after being incarcerated. The inmates with mental illness while committing crimes may have done so because of their illness. The people who were incarcerated and then diagnosed could have had mental problems because of the prisons system they are now living in. It can cause inmates to become depressed, have anxiety and have problems that extend these types of issues. Inmates may have always had a mental illness but was never diagnosed until being incarcerated in prison.
The prisoners who are considered to have mental illness are either diagnosed or being treated for their mental issues. “According to the Criminal Justice statistics, there is an estimated 1.26 million inmates who have mental illness in the prison systems” . That number makes up 45% of the inmates who are incarcerated in the federal prison system. Over 55% of inmates who are incarcerated in state facilities have been diagnosed with mental illness. Inmates who are in jail facilities make up over 60% of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system. There are over 800,000 individuals who are on probation that has been treated or diagnosed with mental illness.
There are several mental illness diagnoses that are common in the criminal justice system. “Many of the inmates are diagnosed with anxiety, anti-social disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and bipolar disorder” . Over 30% of the offenders were diagnosed with having bipolar disorder. In the prison system, there are over 20% of inmates who are diagnosed with depression, and over 20% have schizophrenia. These numbers are high when viewing mental illness in the corrections environment.
Mental illness among inmates in the prison systems is rising due to people being booked in every day. There are more female inmates diagnosed with mental illness in prison than males. “Some inmates who come into prison with mental illness do not receive treatment and this can cause the illness to become worse over time” . This will also cause problems in prison and put many inmates and correctional employees in danger. The unstable mental state can cause disruption and anger to arise which would be harmful among an inmate setting.
Many offenders who do receive medication for mental health treatment may not be taking the correct medication. “Treatment is not monitored or maintained to a higher quality as it would be in society” . There are inmates who do not receive treatment at all depending on the facility they are housed in. Inmates who are given daily medication to treat their mental illness may not take it regularly. Some inmates will trade their medication, hide it, or throw it away because they do not think they need it.
The treatment process is not as evolved in the criminal justice system. There is minimal treatment given or offered depending on the facility. There are many inmates who have an increasing mental health issue due to the surroundings that they are housed in. “The environment can play a vital role in the progression or recession of mental issues within the prison walls” . Inmates may have a harmful experience with their mental illness in prison because their issue is not controlled or evaluated regularly. This can cause inmates to become increasingly traumatized because of the illness they have and the situation they are placed in. If the mental illness is not stabilized it can trigger numerous scenarios that may put the inmate in a harmful situation.
Problems with Mental Illness in Prison
Medication given in the prison population has been on the rise. With over a million inmates needing medical treatment in the prisons system it is an increasing problem. The cost of mental health treatment is increasing and budgets are decreasing for mental health care in the criminal justice system. The distribution of medication in the prison system is an overwhelming task due to understaffed administration and the lack of funding. The medication that is distributed to the inmates will have a positive effect on the inmates if it is taken regularly.
Inmates who take medication may need to have it adjusted or changed because it is not offering the sufficient outcome that is needed for the inmate to cope. When this happens the medication may cause other symptoms because it is not doing the appropriate job. “The lack of mental health programs will have a long-term effect on mental illness diagnosed among inmates” . The need for improved and advanced treatment programs and resources is in great need to keep the inmates stable, productive, and able to cope with everyday routine.
The criminal justice system will need to keep up on inmate’s mental health stability. Inmates who do get to take medication that does not need to be adjusted can manage fine in a prison setting. Those inmates who do not have a diagnosis but have mental health issues will struggle in prison and in time their illness could become severe. “Professionals in the mental health setting will help with diagnosing and controlling the illness in the prison system” .
Other care that could be offered to inmates would be better and more sufficient medical care. Mental health care could be offered in a more frequent manner. The mental healthcare needs to be improved in the prison system. Routine examinations and mental health evaluations should be given regularly to new and existing inmates. Medication evaluations should be looked into when starting or changing an inmate’s medication. Programs to help with therapy and counseling to deter the mental health problems that are not being treated with medication could be utilized.
People who have had spent time in a correctional facility has had a higher risk for suicide attempts. Over 35% of men who had committed suicide had done so with having been in the criminal justice system. Over 6% of women who have died by suicide had been incarcerated. Suicide prevention is a main concern in the prison systems. It is very important to deter inmates from succeeding with suicide. “When a suicide occurs within the prison walls it can be traumatizing to other inmates and to the prison staff” . There can be great attention brought forth among the prison and caused a negative reaction towards that facility.
Suicide rate can be affected by different reasons in the criminal justice system. People may have suicidal tendencies before entering into the prison system or they may have signs of suicide after being incarcerated in prison. Many suicide attempts that occur in prison do so within the first few months in prison. Some occur within the first week of being incarcerated because of the stressors that relate to the prison environment. Suicide had occurred during isolation or self-confinement in jails and prisons. Many suicide attempts occur without being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. People who have mental health issues are in a higher bracket for suicide attempts in jail than those who do not have mental health issues. The suicide attempts could be due to stress, or life issues that have occurred while being incarcerated. Not being able to handle the stressors in life can have a huge impact on the choice to end one’s life. Males have a six times higher rate for a suicide attempt than men who are not incarcerated. There are resources that are not available in the prison system that people have access to outside of prison.
People who are booked into a correctional facility are processed through a serious of assessments to determine if they are suicidal or have tendencies to fall into that categories. There are reasons that people would be considered in the higher risk bracket for suicidal tendencies. “Some of these factors include mental illness, alcohol addiction, drug addiction, the recent loss of a loved one, age, health conditions, and prior suicidal attempt” .
Being incarcerated for the first time can be a stressor for suicide because of the change in environment and atmosphere that the person has been forced to live in. The conditions of jail can be depressing and hard to cope with for someone who has never been incarcerated before.
Suicide prevention is vital in the correctional facilities. Correctional officers and prison personnel are trained to acknowledge signs and symptoms of suicidal tendencies. These tendencies could range from acting out, withdrawing from interaction, not eating, not taking medication, not participating in programs, talking about suicide, anti-social behavior, upset and isolating one’s self. These are just a few examples of suicidal signs.
The intake process is set up to screen for suicidal inmates and act accordingly for those inmates who show signs. It is important to detect inmates who are wanting to or thinking about committing suicide. When an inmate is detected to have these types of thought it is important to quickly seek help for them before it is too late. Suicidal programs are offered in prisons and jails to adequately assist inmates who may be at risk for suicide attempt. This process allows professional help and resources to prevent a person from committing suicide and come to terms with the reasoning for wanting to.
Suicide watch is an area that people are put in to keep an eye on them. This allows for more accurate visibility of these inmates to ensure they are not trying to harm themselves. It is crucial these inmates do not have access to any type of object that could be used to conflict harm on themselves or used to kill themselves with. “a watch is a place that will keep them safer in prison and they will still get therapy and other programs to help deter the suicidal thoughts that they are having” .
The purpose is to save lives and not help to end them. The correctional institutions are a difficult place to be for offenders who are young and being incarcerated for the first time. This can be a time in their life that is depressing and full of mixed emotions. Being put into prison while experiencing these types of feelings and emotions can equal to a greater risk for attempted suicide.
The suicide prevention is only as good as the facility housing the inmates. It is up to the prison staff to ensure safety is maintained and to stop or prevent inmates from harming themselves. If the facility understaffed it will be harder to keep an eye on all inmates and to ensure that no one is able to attempt suicide. The prisons and jails are responsible for ensuring the training and staff availability for inmate safety. If a facility has a high number of suicide rates, then they will need to improve the suicide prevention for their facility. The inmates are in the hands of the correctional facility and need to be monitored for any type of signs for suicide. Once an inmate is able to successfully commit them then the facility will have to answer for this misfortune. Changes will need to be made to keep this from occurring in the future. The family of the inmate will have questions and the correctional facility will need to answer to the reason the suicide occurred without being stopped.
Treatment Options
There are alternatives for mentally ill individuals instead of placing them in a prison facility. The reasons alternatives are being focused on is because there is a lot of money spent on mentally ill inmates and much of the time they are in prison they spend it in segregation. This can cause a negative impact on the mental illness the person has. These other areas of possibilities are being considered to help people with mental health issues and to lower the cost of housing those inmates in a prison setting.
The legal system has specialized in teams of law enforcement who handle the mentally ill people. “Specialized policing responses (SPR) and the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) are trained and knowledgeable in handling these types of people and their mental issues” . These specially trained groups of law enforcement are established to recognize the mentally ill individuals and put them in treatment instead of being arrested.
The purpose is to minimize risk from mentally ill people and working with resources to assist them in treatment to prevent further harm. This will ensure they get help in a quick time frame and assists in defusing any potential risk that they could cause from being unstable. This is a great resource to deter mentally ill people being put into a prison setting and will save on costs. These programs have proven to curb the cost of housing these individuals.
It only costs an estimated $12 a day for out of prison services than the $137 a day in prison housing. The CIT’s have helped in the reduction of using force and establishing stigma with mentally ill people and improved the efforts by over 25% with these programs. “People who benefit from this type of intervention and treatment in the community is cheaper than treatment in the prison system” .
Diversion programs for people who need more help than what jail would offer are increasing in the communities. Programs are put in place to help people with mental illness, drug addiction, alcohol addiction and anger issues. These programs are alternatives to incarceration. There are courts that have been focused solely on drug addiction for people who need help and not put in prison. They will benefit better in treatment programs and facilities than they would be housed in an inmate facility.
Drug courts hear cases from suspects who have been caught in drug addiction. These courts will give a sentence of treatment for the person and the treatment could consist of either outpatient or inpatient services. “There is mental health court that was established to hear cases of people who have sufficient mental health issues and would make better progress in mental health treatment instead of in a prison environment” . The people who are sentenced to mental health treatment may be sent to an in-house facility for a period of time to conduct treatment or may be given outpatient services for a period of time.
These diversion programs are offered to provide the least restraint as possible in a community or inpatient setting. It is meant to offer adequate treatment for people with such diagnosis and give them a chance to get better with treatment. The chance of healing or coping with the illness is a key factor in these types of strategies.
In regards to mental illness, it is about stabilizing the symptoms and offering the correct treatment for the individual. In order to get the treatment under control will help the person be able to be a productive citizen with minimal risk in the future. Individuals who are using these programs for drug addiction it will help reduce the need for drugs. It will offer the person a chance to deter from drug addiction, and heal the cause of the addiction. Once this takes place the person will have a better chance in the community and living a productive life.
Cost for Alternatives
The cost for these alternative programs is not as much as it is to house inmates in prison. The prison cost to house an inmate with mental illness is double the cost than what it would be for alternative treatment. In some states, it costs $20,000 to house inmates and only $4,000 to treat people for outpatient services. The diversions of treatment are saving the states money that would normally be spent on keeping inmates in prison. This is a better way to give these people better treatment and keep them out of the criminal justice facilities.
All of the alternative programs have been proven to be half the cost of the incarceration rate. It has not only benefited the individuals to get the best treatment but also saves the taxpayers money. It also keeps the incarceration rate from increasing because these people are being seen without being put into prison.
Alternative treatment for non-violent offenders is a more resourceful way to establish a positive plan to reinforce appropriate behavior. “Saving money per person is another positive outlook on alternative treatment programs” . These services are available to treat and offer services for a productive role in the community. These skills that are also offered are job training, education, and other services that allow the induvial to be able to support themselves. Many resources given in out of prison treatment is not offered thoroughly in a prison environment.
The more offenders who are given the alternative option to seek treatment will reduce the rate of the prison population and increase the rate of offenders becoming productive citizens. The diversion programs can decrease the re-offending of offenders who have received proper treatment and help in deterring their illness or addiction. It is a positive reinforcement from being incarcerated in a prison setting. There is a better chance of success in this type of treatment than what would occur in the correctional facilities for these types of offenders.
Re-entry into Society
When an inmate has to go back into society after incarceration it can be a struggle for the offender. Many times inmates would rather go back to prison than try to fit into society and live up to the expectations. It is not uncommon for offenders to get out of prison and end up back in within the first year of being released. It is important for them to have support and resources available to keep them out of prison and productive in society. There are programs that can assist offenders into establishing a lifestyle into society with transitioning from the prison lifestyle they are used to. It is important for the offenders to follow up with the resources that are offered or ordered when released from prison. The Second Chance Act was put into action in 2007 to help offenders transition back into society and offer funding for programs to assist in the adjustment. These programs can range from education, job training, therapy, treatment programs, and other areas that could benefit the offender.
Conclusion
The mental ill offenders are increasing in the prison system. New alternative options are available to help assist them instead of sending them to jail. These programs will offer treatment for illness and addiction to offenders who would benefit better than in a prison setting. The suicide rate is a problem in the prison system. This is especially prominent for first-time offenders and offenders with mental illness. It is up to the facilities to monitor and deter inmates from committing suicide. The criminal justice system in need of improvement in deterring suicide and providing treatment for mental health offenders.
There are many improvements that are needed to be addressed concerning mental health among inmates. The prison facilities need to make sure there is adequate care for mental illness. Programs that assist with treatment will be proficient among the inmates who are coping. Teaching inmates to use techniques that can make them stop and breathe before acting out will help. There are many things that won’t be costly for the prison to improve mental illness. If the inmates have the proper reliable assistance they will have a better chance at feeling normal. The prison system needs improvements in the healthcare department.
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