“Today, over 50 percent of prison and jail inmates in the United States have a diagnosed mental illness, a rate nearly five times greater than that of the general adult population” (188). Prisons are not equipped with doctors, physiatrists or medications for the treatment and care these people need, an issue usually followed with violent reactions from poorly coping mentally ill. The cruel incarceration of the mentally ill decreases their ability to recover from the trauma they have survived and increases their mental instability and should, upon diagnosis, be placed into hospitals instead. Prisons were made to reform and help our most troubled citizens, but these people aren't given the chance they deserve due to their handicaps. These disabilities may not define them but they are defining their success when we purposefully ignore them.
Herbert Richardson placed a bomb on a porch one day and after an accidental detonation, killed one child and seriously injured another (76). After this incident he was sentenced to death row (77). He had served in the Vietnam War and showed many signs of PTSD (74) and was even treated for it at …show more content…
These people typically aren’t internally bad or harmful, they’re simply imbalanced and misunderstood and with the proper care could return to society and be contributing members rather than another statistic in another report. If you don’t give them a chance to succeed then you only expect them to fail. The mentally ill do not belong in prisons where their behavioral issues are only aggravated, they belong in hospitals where they can learn to handle their emotions and actions properly and return to their homes and families. People with mental disorders are not second class citizens and deserve an equal chance to succeed and
Herbert Richardson placed a bomb on a porch one day and after an accidental detonation, killed one child and seriously injured another (76). After this incident he was sentenced to death row (77). He had served in the Vietnam War and showed many signs of PTSD (74) and was even treated for it at …show more content…
These people typically aren’t internally bad or harmful, they’re simply imbalanced and misunderstood and with the proper care could return to society and be contributing members rather than another statistic in another report. If you don’t give them a chance to succeed then you only expect them to fail. The mentally ill do not belong in prisons where their behavioral issues are only aggravated, they belong in hospitals where they can learn to handle their emotions and actions properly and return to their homes and families. People with mental disorders are not second class citizens and deserve an equal chance to succeed and