Mentally Ill Treatment In Jail

Detained in darkness, cold concrete swathing his bare feet, the roar of fellow inmates pervading every thought, he calmly rests this head on the ripping, spring mattress—as if the demons inside were much greater than any he could face here. Here, disease and the smell of feces percolate through the air more frequently than human conversation. Officers click down the tunnels, waiting to take each prisoner to the court holding cells. Unfortunately, some of these same inmates will be here next week, and the week after that, and after that, too. Some of these inmates will spend the rest of their lives in a place like this. But many of them shouldn’t. According to the National Academy of Sciences, in our American prison system, around 25 percent …show more content…
For a majority of mentally ill people in America, jail is the only place where they can afford medications and treatment—because it’s free and required by federal laws (Ford 7). Although medications do help for the length of time they are in jail, once they leave, the mentally ill are forced to pay for their medications: which most are unable to do. However, overall the treatment plans for mentally ill in most jails are largely unhelpful. Although medications help repress their illness, solitary confinement worsens psychiatric symptoms and can lead to “self-mutilation and suicide attempts” (Stephy 2). Due to the instability of a severely mentally ill person’s mind, they do not learn the punishment behind solitary confinement like sane minded people. Jail does not serve the same purpose for those who are mentally ill. This misunderstanding could lead to mentally ill, unable to comprehend why they are in jail, attempting to kill themselves. In addition, the poor treatment in jail leads to a vicious cycle of severely mentally ill committing crimes, getting somewhat better, being released, mentally deteriorating, and eventually stumbling back into a jail cell (Stephy 2). Adding to the stressful environment of jail, most police officers are not trained to deal with mentally ill people, normal police procedures often, “increase the chances of violence, confusion, or even death” of mentally ill people (Stephy 1). In making this comment, Stephy, the author of “De-Criminalizaing Mental Illness”, explains that we should teach police officers how to spot and treat people with mental illnesses. Too often, police officers intimidate mentally ill people when confronting them. This creates a seemingly dangerous atmosphere for mentally ill people, who are unstable regularly—with the increased pressure of an officer yelling, it