The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. While making up only 5 percent of the world’s total population, it accounts for 25 percent of the world’s prison population (ACLU, 2011). If that isn’t striking enough, our correctional facilities are being used as more than just places to house criminals – they are turning into mental health intuitions. Three jails – Cook County Jail in Chicago, IL, Rikers Island in New York and Los Angeles County Jail in California, are the three largest mental health facilities in the United States (CITE). Although these jails are not actually mental health institutions, they do have the three largest populations of persons in an inpatient or in custody setting who are receiving
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Jail stays are shorter in length, for instance at the Hennepin County Jail the average length of stay is 72 hours (C. Arkema-O’Hara, personal communication, February 21, 2017). Prisons, state and federal, are facilities where inmates are held once they have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to serve at least one year in custody. While my paper includes statistics and research about people with mental illness in both jails and prisons, ultimately my policy focus will be on persons in pre-conviction jail facilities, with shorter lengths of stay, which is where we see the recurring cycle of arrest and dentition play out. In addition, if we reduce the number of persons with mental illness in jails, that should in turn help reduce the number of persons with mental illness in prisons as …show more content…
In Hennepin County, a one day study from July 2016 showed that over half of inmates booked into the jail had indicators of a mental health issue (Serres, 2016). Eleven percent of the jail population was also on antipsychotic medications, which are commonly used to treat diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (Serres, 2016). A larger statewide report issued in March 2016 by the Office of the Legislative Auditor came to other concerning conclusions regarding people with mental illness in Minnesota jails. Since 2000, there have been more than 50 suicides and 770 suicide attempts in Minnesota jails (Office of Legislative Auditor (OLA), 2016). The report also found that data collection by correctional facilities regarding mental health of inmates has been neither complete nor reliable (OLA, 2016). The report also included input from sheriffs around the state and many reported they did not feel equipped to handle mental health concerns of inmates and were also concerned about not having enough services in place to address the needs of inmates with mental health issues (OLA,
Jail stays are shorter in length, for instance at the Hennepin County Jail the average length of stay is 72 hours (C. Arkema-O’Hara, personal communication, February 21, 2017). Prisons, state and federal, are facilities where inmates are held once they have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to serve at least one year in custody. While my paper includes statistics and research about people with mental illness in both jails and prisons, ultimately my policy focus will be on persons in pre-conviction jail facilities, with shorter lengths of stay, which is where we see the recurring cycle of arrest and dentition play out. In addition, if we reduce the number of persons with mental illness in jails, that should in turn help reduce the number of persons with mental illness in prisons as …show more content…
In Hennepin County, a one day study from July 2016 showed that over half of inmates booked into the jail had indicators of a mental health issue (Serres, 2016). Eleven percent of the jail population was also on antipsychotic medications, which are commonly used to treat diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (Serres, 2016). A larger statewide report issued in March 2016 by the Office of the Legislative Auditor came to other concerning conclusions regarding people with mental illness in Minnesota jails. Since 2000, there have been more than 50 suicides and 770 suicide attempts in Minnesota jails (Office of Legislative Auditor (OLA), 2016). The report also found that data collection by correctional facilities regarding mental health of inmates has been neither complete nor reliable (OLA, 2016). The report also included input from sheriffs around the state and many reported they did not feel equipped to handle mental health concerns of inmates and were also concerned about not having enough services in place to address the needs of inmates with mental health issues (OLA,