Preview

Mental Health Issues in Prison

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
558 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mental Health Issues in Prison
Mental Health Issues in Prison
Aries Villagomez
August Term
Westwood College School of Justice

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Handbook on Prisoners with Special Needs, part of the Criminal Justice Handbook Series, all inmates run the risk to mental health issues, given that their freedom is limited and their lives are controlled by another individual or a group of people in authority, who in many cases abuse their power and create a rather intense environment for prisoners (2009, p.4). However, the physical and mental health of incarcerated people is threatened by prison conditions as well, in a large majority of countries over the globe, mostly due to poor physical conditions, overcrowding, lack or inadequacy of health care, absence of a sufficient amount of activities within the prison’s facilities, and violence, among others (Handbook on Prisoners with Mental Health, 2009 p.4). This paper will focus on the mental health problems caused to inmates, due to imprisonment and solitary confinement and to what extend can the high rates of suicides within correctional facilities are a direct outcome of the mental health of inmates that is a condition pro-existing incarceration or of it had been generated within prisons.
References
Last Name, F. M. (Year). Article Title. Journal Title, Pages From - To.
Last Name, F. M. (Year). Book Title. City Name: Publisher Name.

Footnotes
1[Add footnotes, if any, on their own page following references. For APA formatting requirements, it’s easy to just type your own footnote references and notes. To format a footnote reference, select the number and then, on the Home tab, in the Styles gallery, click Footnote Reference. The body of a footnote, such as this example, uses the Normal text style. (Note: If you delete this sample footnote, don’t forget to delete its in-text reference as well. That’s at the end of the sample Heading 2 paragraph on the first page of body content in this template.)]
Tables

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The author then goes on to identify the causes of suicide in general and how they are applied in prison. He says that because so much of their time is spent idle, cramped up with other inmates, racial tensions, and the “fight or flight” response kicks in and it becomes too much for them. He evaluates the prisoner characteristics in order to determine likelihood of suicide. He talks a great deal about deprivation theory, stating that it predicts that prisons in which inmates experience a greater loss of freedom, have lesser controls of daily routines, and are denied access to rehabilitative programs will have a higher incidence of suicide.…

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prisons are slowly but surely becoming America’s new Asylums. An estimated 450 million people nationwide suffer from mental or behavioral disorders. These disorders are pretty common within prison populations. This extremely high rate of mental disorders in prison is closely related to several factors: the misconception that all people with mental disorders are a danger to the public, the failure to promote treatment, care, and rehabilitation, and the lack of access to mental health services. Many of these disorders are present before prison however, mental health disorders can also be developed during imprisonment due to human rights violations.…

    • 857 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inmates In Jail

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Inmates in Jail Prison is a building in which people are legally held as a punishment for crimes they have committed or while awaiting trial. Today, persons look at prison in different way, the Time Magazine article, “Criminals Should Be Cured Not Caged”, claims in 1968. However, people and management are still experiencing disturbing tactics, which used in the most American public. In the U.S., there were more people recorded reports of police misconduct and fatalities linked to misconduct, according to the article statistics and reporting. Although the occurrence of police brutality is acknowledged by establishments as persistent problem, intentions for it are the best qualified as theories. A prisoner has the right to sue prison guards. Inmates in jail have the right to many resources, including medical care. Prisoners have to get…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The elimination of state mental hospitals was not based on human need, but rather a political policy decision. The shortage of mental institutions creates a shift in the role of prison systems and presents several different issues for mentally ill inmates. The inmates are not medically treated in…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mental Illness In Prison

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages

    What then is the best setting in which to provide the care? They must look at the scenario of developing acute care psychiatric units in prisons by shifting state funds to departments of corrections from departments of mental health. Many departments of corrections have agreements with state departments of mental health for providing acute care. This approach creates expenses associated with the transfer of offenders back and forth and security concerns, as well as interdepartmental conflicts and communication problems inherent in the difference between handling offenders and handling patients.Suicide is the third leading cause of death in U.S. state and federal prisons, exceeded only by natural causes and AIDS. Comprehensive suicide-prevention programs in prisons are of increasing importance to mental health professionals, correctional administrators, healthcare providers, legislators, attorneys, and others as they seek to rehabilitate offenders and avoid the multi million-dollar lawsuits that often arise from inmate…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Preventing suicide in America’s jail,” Brent Staples discusses how suicide has been a considerable problem in jails and how increasing rates of suicide correlates with the cumulation of inmates suffering from mental illness. Staples supports his position by providing inductive reasoning and evidence to appeal to the reasoning and logic of the reader. Staples argues that local authorities need to do a better job preventing suicide and catering to the needs of the mentally ill. He goes on to elaborate that there has been steps to trigger a change in the jails; such as requirements for better mental health treatment and more effective measures to prevent suicide.…

    • 108 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mentally Ill in Prison

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages

    MONAGHAN, P. (2004). Madness in maximum security. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 50(41), A.14-A.16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/214687880?accountid=34899…

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Conflict Diagnosis

    • 1151 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Conflict Diagnosis Paper Generally, more than half of all inmates who commit suicide in prison are between 25 and 34 years of age (Tripodi & Bender, 2006). Many who commit suicide in prison were often unemployed and were single with little to no family support. Juveniles or very young inmates are also at risk for committing suicide while in prison, especially those inmates who have no family support. Mental health is a serious condition within a prison setting because every inmate with a mental disorder reacts differently to situations while incarcerated. Many inmates may have psychiatric disorders before entering into prison and many develop disorders while incarcerated. Depression and hopelessness are common in an inmate who are incarcerated and is the leading cause of suicide in prison.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    detainees. American Psychologist, 46, 1036-1045. Dan L. Creson, "MENTAL HEALTH," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/smmun), accessed October 14, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.…

    • 2854 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mentally Ill in Prison

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Given the number of incarcerated inmates who suffer from some form of mental illness, there are growing concerns and questions in the medical field about treatment of the mentally ill in the prison system. When a person with a mental illness commits a crime or break the law, they are immediately taken to jail or sent off to prison instead of being evaluated and placed in a hospital or other mental health facility. “I have always wondered if the number of mentally ill inmates increased since deinstitutionalization” Since prison main focus is on the crimes inmates are incarcerated; the actual treatment needed for the mentally ill is secondary. Mentally ill prisoners on the surface may appear to be just difficult inmates depending on the degree of outward actions being displayed. For instance, a paranoid inmate may get into a fight simply because he believes he is being followed and/or stalked by other prisoners. It becomes quite clear that the solution for the treatment of the mentally ill is not “Incarceration”.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Rehabilitation In Prison

    • 1389 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Incarceration of the mentally ill is a social problem because studies have shown that a significantly high percentage of individuals incarcerated in the United States have been diagnosed with a mental illness. A Stanford Law school study has shown that prisons and jails have become the new mental health care facilities. In their study, they highlighted the findings of the National Sheriff’s Association and Treatment Advocacy center, that ten times the amount of mental ill individuals are incarcerated rather than being treated in mental health facilities. The Stanford Law school…

    • 1389 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Solitary Confinement

    • 3661 Words
    • 15 Pages

    Abstract This paper touches base with the reality that it solitary confinement and everything that goes along with that punishment. These supermax prisons are often overlooked by the everyday citizen; this leaves the inmates serving time in one of these facilities feeling isolated, not only in spirit but in the physical as well. It is the research of a few scientists, but more actual POW victims that will be able to shed some light on what really goes on in the depths of the human mind. It will also spend some time looking at what are some of the possible mental outcomes of these inmates, and will see if these problems are even relevant and if they are, are they permanent? The main objective of this paper is to ask the question “Is solitary confinement a constitutional and humane punishment?”…

    • 3661 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Junis Citozi Composition II Unfair America: Mentally Ill Inmates Individuals suffering from mental illnesses tend to fall victim to the criminal justice system due to their uncontrollable actions that result from their mental illness symptoms. Within the United States two to three hundred thousand people in prison suffer from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, severe depression, and bipolar disorder. Sadly, the majority of prisons are deficient in providing the appropriate resources to treat these individuals; people with mental illnesses are too frequently socially mistreated, neglected, and misunderstood within the confines of a prison. Prisons are deficient in correctional staff trained to suit mentally ill inmates, in appropriate conditions of confinement, and in proper medical care to help mentally ill inmates recuperate back to a state suitable for society. Through this inexperienced care mentally ill prisoners are constantly suffering from their agonizing symptoms and further digressing from the society which they would otherwise be able to cope with if treated properly. Fortunately for the United States and the communities it encompasses, solutions are available and possible to institute within our prisons to treat these mentally ill individuals, which will benefit our society as a whole and end the avoidable suffering faced by these individuals and their family and friends.…

    • 1941 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    suicide in which he/she is given additional psychiatric attention, prohibits the establishment of prison gangs, and gives the prison officials the opportunity to use solitary confinement as a form of deterrence by intimidating inmates to change their disruptive behaviors. On the contrary, Mears notes several negative unanticipated effects of solitary confinement onto the inmates. The basic ideology is that the threat of solitary confinement will lessen an inmate’s disciplinary violations. However, while in confinement some inmates suffered from psychological aggravations and became increasingly violent and aggressive towards other inmates and the prison staff (Daniel Mears, 2006).…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Yes, the video was very informative. What stood out to me was that the people with mental issues aren't getting the same care as others. Especially the people that deal with mental health in jails which make it worse because they're surrounded by four walls all day without no one to talk to or do…

    • 56 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays