Mental Illness: The Role Of Mental Health In Prisons

Prisons were never designed to accommodate the mentally challenged. Yet today it is one of their primary functions. After committing a crime, individuals who cannot obtain mental health treatment in the community are swept into the criminal justice system. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, fifty-six percent of state offenders and forty-five percent of federal offenders have symptoms or a history of mental health disabilities. Many offenders have explored the world of mental illness through a serious handicap in ways of major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. These disabilities are two to four times greater than supporters of the general public. Research has concluded that eight to nineteen percent of offenders have …show more content…
By helping offenders regain health and improve coping skills, mental health treatment promotes safety and direction within the confinement environment by enhancing community safety when offenders are released. Unfortunately, offenders are ill-equipped to react appropriately to the demands of offenders with a mental illness. Reformatory mental health services are frequently lacking and crippled by understaffing, insufficient facilities, and limited programs. As a result, many seriously ill offenders receive little or no meaningful treatment. Although there are many reliable and dedicated mental health professionals working in corrections, they face daunting if not challenging encounters to meeting the needs of their patients. Large caseloads, physically unpleasant facilities, and institutional cultures are insensitive to the importance of mental health treatment. Competent mental health staffing, treatment programs, and physical resources have commonly been swamped by the tsunami of offenders with serious mental health demands. However, overworked staff are forced to respond to psychiatric emergencies, promote recovery from serious illness and enhance coping