Mental Health Issues In Prisons

Today in the United States prison system, mental health problems among prisoners are somewhat high. Some like to think that prisons are now becoming institutions for those with mental health problems. Hearing these statements and thoughts from others makes many feel that people need all the help they can get with such a strong disability, not to be thrown away and locked up in prison. The next few paragraphs and pages are going to be a brief investigation of the mental health problems among those in prison. Overall, I think it is important that our government and ourselves start to get hands on with this problem in our prison system. I believe helping those with mental health by giving them the right attention, treating them appropriately …show more content…
Among them, most are sent to prison and diagnosed with some type of mental health problem and the ones with most of the mental health problems are women. According to Amos Irwin (2015),” “…62 percent of all women in federal prison suffer from mental health problems, and the vast majority of women in federal prison have been victims of physical and sexual abuse”(p.3). Some of these mental problems that women incarcerated have are from the abuse of a spouse or even the abuse they received as a child. The amount of women in prison today has grown since the past. Today women are getting thrown into prison for those low-level drug crimes, which takes them away from their families who they have been trying to make a living for. Another thing to add is that most of these women incarcerated are mothers leaving their children behind to live life on their own, and most of those children being left behind are below the age of 18. Being away from your children so long and not being able to interact with them or love them, which is another variable that brings on mental problems to those women held in …show more content…
Now many of these prisoners have mental health problems that have been haunting them their whole lives and those problems are even what put them in prison. According to Doris James and Lauren Glaze (2006), “At midyear 2005, 56% of state prisoners, 45% of federal prisoners, and 64% of jail inmates had some type of mental health problem”(p.1). As you can see most of the prison population is sick and most do not even seek or get the medical attention they need while in prison. While in prison those with mental health need to be getting certain examinations, medicines, and treatments they need to live comfortably for their time to be spent in prison. Without any of these necessities ever being met or given to an inmate with mental problems, constant disruptive behavior, and violent outbreaks will occur a lot more